Energy Harvesting Systems and Sensors: Materials, Devices, and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

As a result of the offsetting for worldwide energy demand, energy harvesting systems with electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic based energy harvesters have rapidly expanded over the past decade in environmental sensors, portable energy generator, wearable/flexible/non-flexible electronics, low-power consumer electronics, and wireless electronic devices while exploring alternative energy sources such as the human body motion, vehicle moving, the wind blowing, and ocean waves etc. Traditional energy harvesting systems and sensors are developed with nanostructures and thin films, and extended to the hybrid structures of electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic based energy harvesters and sensors. In addition, recent sensor technology is making use of chemical, hazardous, radioactive, and strain sensors without fixed power supply in a wide area of applications ranging from environmental monitoring to medical diagnostics, and smart cities. However, they have still several challenges (e.g. complex fabrication, micropatterned structure, high cost, and requirement of battery etc.) due to their specific requirements for the geometry. Thus, further development of new materials, simple fabrication techniques with low-cost processes etc are necessary for various applications fields such as self-powered for low-power consumer electronics, security systems, smart health monitoring systems, implantable/wearable bio-sensors, and chemical/environmental sensors for underwater, toxic chemical, hazardous, and radioactive wastes.

In this Special Issue, you are invited to submit contributions covering developments in any area of energy harvesting systems and sensors ranging from the nanoscale to macroscale dimensions. The scope of this Special Issue includes different types of energy harvesters and sensors: new materials and applications, experimental verifications, fabrication techniques, theory, modeling and integration, design and optimization, networks and data fusion.

Dr. Soaram Kim
Guest Editor

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• Energy harvesting transducers (e.g. electromagnetic, piezoelectric, triboelectric, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic)
• Energy storages (e.g. battery, fuel cell electrodes)
• Energy harvestings/storages system design and integration
• Self-powered systems and sustainable independent power source
• Sensor fabrications (e.g. physical, chemical, biological, radiological)
• Sensor systems and networks
• Energy harvesting and sensor systems for the Internet of Things