Nano Energy 64 (2019) 103943

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Nano Energy
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A low-frequency, broadband and tri-hybrid energy harvester with septuple- T

stable nonlinearity-enhanced mechanical frequency up-conversion
mechanism for powering portable electronics
Chen Wanga, Siu-Kai Laia,b,*, Zhi-Chong Wangc, Jia-Mei Wanga, Weiqing Yangd, Yi-Qing Nia,b
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
b
Hong Kong Branch of National Rail Transit Electrification and Automation Engineering Technology Research Center, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon,
Hong Kong, China
c
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Dynamics and Control, Department of Mechanics, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
d
Key Laboratory of Advanced Technologies of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Traction Power,
Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This study involves the design and investigation of a low-frequency, broadband, tri-hybrid energy harvester. The
Tri-hybrid energy harvester harvester consists of a novel septuple-stable nonlinearity-enhanced mechanical frequency up-conversion me-
Septuple-stable nonlinearity chanism that not only enhances the output performance of the frequency up-conversion via inter-well motions,
Frequency up-conversion and also offers a wide and highly efficient operating bandwidth at low acceleration via the combination of
Piezoelectric generator
resonant inter-well oscillation behavior and non-resonant behavior. The integration of an impact-driven pie-
Electromagnetic generator
Triboelectric nanogenerator
zoelectric generator, an electromagnetic generator, and a freestanding-mode triboelectric nanogenerator allows
more energy to be harvested from a single mechanical motion, which further improves the power density. A
prototype is fabricated and demonstrated using an electrodynamic shaker and various human motions. In the
electrodynamic shaker test, the prototype exhibits a broad bandwidth of 2–12.5 Hz and generates an output
power of 24.17 mW, corresponding to a power density of 700.3 W/m3 across a matching load resistance of
35 kΩ at a frequency of 5 Hz and 1 g acceleration. Under various basic human motions such as handshaking,
walking, and slow running, the prototype can generate output powers of 38.5, 24.5, and 27.2 mW, respectively,
in horizontal positions and 42.7, 10.2, and 33.1 mW, respectively, in vertical positions. A comparison study is
also presented to demonstrate that the tri-hybrid prototype can produce a much higher power density than other
devices reported recently. This work makes significant progress toward hybrid-energy harvesting from various
human motions and its potential application in powering wearable devices.

1. Introduction [3,4]. In particular, vibration energy sources are the most attractive due
to their versatility, incorruptibility, and pervasiveness [5,6]. Various
With the ongoing development of wireless sensor networks and mechanisms that have been extensively exploited to harvest vibration
portable electronic devices, the need for sustainable mobile power energy include piezoelectric [7–11], electromagnetic [12–15], electro-
supplies has grown. These devices and sensors are mainly powered by static [16,17], and triboelectric [18–28] approaches. Each mechanism
conventional electrochemical batteries or micro-fuel cells, which are generates electrical power by coupling the applied vibration or motion
limited in lifespan, chemically hazardous, bulky, costly, and compli- to a mechanical structure with transducer elements.
cated to replace. To address these shortcomings, recent efforts have Most ambient vibration sources around us are low-frequency,
been made to develop built-in energy harvesters to realize self-powered random, and time-varying. In particular, human body-induced vibra-
wireless sensors and portable electronic devices [1,2]. As a result, tion-based applications desirable for powering wearable electronic de-
various kinds of energy harvesters have been developed to generate the vices are also characterized by low frequencies (less than 10 Hz) and
required electricity by converting ambient energy sources such as vi- large amplitudes [29]. Generally, it is challenging to harvest energy
bration, solar, thermal, biochemical, acoustic noise, and radio waves from such a low-frequency vibration source because the power

*
Corresponding author. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
E-mail address: [email protected] (S.-K. Lai).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.103943
Received 24 May 2019; Received in revised form 18 July 2019; Accepted 25 July 2019
Available online 30 July 2019
2211-2855/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Wang, et al. Nano Energy 64 (2019) 103943

generation of a vibration energy harvester decreases dramatically at harvesting from various human motions and its potential application for
low frequencies [30,31]. Moreover, most vibration energy harvesters powering portable electronics.
are resonant-based and must therefore be quite large to match the low
frequencies. Although non-resonant harvesters are not bothered by this 2. Experimental section
issue, they cannot benefit from the magnified factor of resonance when
they work under a periodic vibration [32]. For these reasons, the power 2.1. Fabrication of the tri-hybrid generator
generation of energy harvesters alone remains quite low and is not
enough to power portable electronic devices, particularly under the First, a NdFeB cuboid magnet (1.5× 1.5 × 0.5 cm, N35 grade) with
operating conditions of low-intensity and low-frequency human mo- two beryllium bronze headers was put into a rectangular acrylic tube to
tions [33]. slide as a proof mass. Two NdFeB magnets (1× 0.4 × 0.2 cm each, N35
By hybridizing multiple transduction mechanisms, more electricity grade) were respectively embedded in the center of the upper and lower
can be harvested from a single mechanical movement, and the ad- wells of the tube. Two pairs of flexible stoppers, each of which consists of
vantages of different transduction mechanisms can be taken in one one unimorph piezoelectric cantilever and one bimorph piezoelectric
package [2]. Inspired by this idea, intensive studies of bi-hybrid gen- cantilever beam were symmetrically placed at both side of the acrylic tube
erators with hybrid mechanisms such as piezoelectric–electromagnetic and separated by a distance of 3 mm from the tube. Each unimorph pie-
[34–38], electromagnetic–triboelectric [33,39–45], and piezo- zoelectric cantilever beam consists of a Macro Fiber Composite (MFC)
electric–triboelectric [46–48] have been carried out to improve the patch [M 2814 P2] mounted on a 3.3 × 2 × 0.02-cm beryllium bronze
overall power output at low frequencies. Although these works are very plate, while each bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam consists of two
innovative and interesting, sustainably powering commercial portable MFC patches mounted on both sides of a 3 × 1.8 × 0.03-cm beryllium
electronic devices or sensors by low-intensity human motion alone re- bronze plate. Four rectangular-shaped coils (300 turns each) were con-
mains a challenge. One direct solution of this issue is to hybridize more nected in series and attached in pairs on the upper and lower outer sur-
transduction mechanisms in a single mechanical movement. A piezo- faces of the acrylic tube. The gap between the surfaces of the sliding
electric–electromagnetic–triboelectric hybrid energy harvester was first magnet and the coil was maintained at 0.9 mm. An aluminum (Al) film
proposed in Ref. [49]. However, because of its complex structural de- 50 μm thick and 20 mm wide covered the surface of the sliding proof mass
sign, this tri-hybrid energy harvester did not significantly improve as a freestanding tribo-material. Two 50-μm-thick copper films were at-
power generation. Coupling low-frequency vibration (generated by tached on the inner surface of the acrylic tube with a 0.1-mm gap between
human motion) into the triple transducer elements of the generator them; these films served as the back electrodes. A polytetrafluoroethylene
requires an optimized design solution. (PTFE) film with a thickness of 50 μm was aligned onto the surfaces of the
Mechanical frequency up-conversion is another mainstream approach back electrodes as another tribo-material.
for high-efficiency energy harvesting in low-frequency applications [50].
This approach allows the transducer elements to actuate at their own re- 2.2. Electrical measurement and characterization
sonant frequencies (high frequencies) via a low-frequency or non-resonant
oscillator that absorbs energy from basic human motions such as walking, For the electrical measurement of the hybrid generator under dif-
running, handshaking, or limb movement [50–54]. However, harvesting ferent excitations, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) feedback
energy with large amplitudes from low-intensity human motion is chal- loop was implemented by using a vibration controller (SPEKTRA VCS
lenging because most of the harvested energy is generated during the in- 201) that took the feedback signal from an accelerometer (DYTRAN
stantaneous coupled vibration period [55]. To overcome this issue, our 3056B2) mounted on an electrodynamic shaker (SPEKTRA APS 420).
group proposed a quintuple-stable nonlinearity-based frequency up-con- The load-circuit current of the prototype was measured across load
version mechanism to improve the intensity and duration of the coupled resistances of 45 and 135 kΩ for the piezoelectric generator (PEG),
vibration via inter-well motions. This mechanism realized broadband en- 290 Ω for the electromagnetic generator (EMG), and 20 MΩ for tribo-
ergy harvest from low-intensity vibration with lower frequencies and electric nanogenerator (TENG). All signals were recorded and displayed
boosted the output power as much as 35 times that of a conventional on a digital oscilloscope (Tektronix DPO4104B).
counterpart [56]. However, for wearable applications, a more compact
design with this mechanism is required to be developed. 3. Results and discussion
Herein, a new miniaturized piezoelectric–electromagnetic–tribo-
electric hybrid energy harvester is proposed. This harvester is designed 3.1. Configuration and working principle of the tri-hybrid generator
and developed using a novel septuple-stable nonlinearity-enhanced me-
chanical frequency up-conversion mechanism to power portable electro- A frequency up-converted PEG, an EMG, and a sliding-mechanism
nics via various human motions. The septuple-stable nonlinearity, having TENG were optimally integrated in a septuple-stable dynamic system as
seven stable states, not only combines resonant inter-well oscillation be- a hybrid cell, as schematically illustrated in Fig. 1. As shown in
havior and non-resonant behavior to achieve high efficiency and a broad Fig. 1(b), the size of the prototype is 63 mm (length) × 28 mm
operating bandwidth to cover the low frequencies of general human-in- (width) × 20.1 mm (effective height). The PEG mainly consisted of a
duced motions, it also significantly improves the output performance of slider (as a proof mass) with a central magnet and four rigid generating
the mechanical frequency up-conversion process via inter-well motions. beams composed of MFCs and beryllium bronze plates. The slider was
Also, by integrating an impact-driven piezoelectric generator, an electro- placed in a rectangular acrylic tube to restrain its motion to a single
magnetic generator, and a freestanding-mode triboelectric nanogenerator, direction, and its interaction with two small fixing magnets embedded
more electric power can be harvested from a single mechanical motion, in the upper and lower wells of the tube acted as a magnetic spring. The
which can further improve the power density. Making use of theoretical two beryllium bronze headers on both ends of the slider reduced the
modeling and experimental analysis of the prototype, the output perfor- resonant frequency and collided with the generating beams (with
mance of the hybrid system is investigated in a low-frequency range cor- higher resonant frequencies) during vibration. Initially, as shown in
responding to various human motions. Moreover, practical usage of the Fig. 2(a), the slider remained stable in the middle of the tube due to the
proposed harvester for charging storage units, lighting light-emitting magnetic spring. The four generating beams with two kinds of config-
diodes (LEDs), and powering sensors and electronic humidity/temperature uration (distinguished as A and B) were clamped in pairs at both ends of
meters is demonstrated. With a wider bandwidth and much higher power the tube 3 mm (d1) and 4.8 mm (d2), respectively, from the slider. The
density than similar devices reported recently [2,37,39,44,49,57], the effective lengths of these two kinds of generating beams were 31.2 mm
designed system makes significant progress toward hybrid energy (l1) and 27.6 mm (l2), respectively, so that the slider collided with the

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Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of the tri-hybrid energy harvester, (b) photograph of the fabricated prototype (63 mm (length) × 28 mm (width) × 20.1 mm (effective height)),
(c) slider, (d) generating beams, (e) coils on one side, (f) PTFE film with Cu back electrodes, and (g) step-by-step assembly diagram of the tri-hybrid energy harvester.

free end of each beam during vibration. When a human-induced vi- 13 equilibrium positions, 7 of which are stable (corresponding with
bration with significantly large acceleration amplitude was applied to positions I, II, …, VII, shown in Fig. 2(a) and (c)). By creating a sep-
the generator along the tube, the slider started to vibrate, with the tuple-stable nonlinear characteristic, the system can distribute its po-
headers colliding with the generating beams in turn. After collision, the tential energy more uniformly, which provides shallower potential
slider and the generating beam(s) were subjected to coupled vibration wells and results in a lower excitation threshold for inter-well motion.
for a short time before separation. Afterwards, each generating beam Greater deflection of the generating beams is easily achieved via inter-
can vibrate with exponentially attenuating amplitude at its higher re- well oscillations between II and VI or III and VII to enhance the energy
sonant frequency, thereby inducing the mechanical frequency up-con- transfer in the frequency up-conversion process. In addition, owing to
version mechanism. For the MFC attached to the fixed end of the the presence of seven potential wells, the tri-hybrid generator has two
generating beam, the cyclic deformation of the generating beam can kinds of resonant frequencies. One is around the trivial equilibria and
induce tension or compressive forces along the beam length direction of the other is around the non-trivial equilibria. When the excitation fre-
the MFC. Based on the piezoelectric effect [58], when the piezoelectric quency is near either of these local oscillation frequencies, resonant
element is connected to an external circuit, the resultant charges are oscillation occurs. This broadens the operating bandwidth of the tri-
then extracted. hybrid generator at low frequencies, which is beneficial to energy
To enhance the energy transfer during the frequency up-conversion harvesting from human body-induced vibrations.
process and extend the operating bandwidth, a septuple-stable non- For the EMG, four rectangular coils were connected in series and at-
linear characteristic was designed in the hybrid generator. This char- tached in pairs on the upper and lower outer surfaces of the rectangular
acteristic was realized by optimally combining the force of the magnetic tube, separated by the fixing magnets. The TENG was composed of an Al
spring and the generating beams. As illustrated in Fig. 2, if the relative electrode covering the middle part of the slider to generate friction during
displacement of the slider exceeds d1, the slider engages and deforms vibration (Fig. 1(a)). The internal surface of the rectangular tube was at-
the generating beam A (GBA) in the moving direction with an addi- tached to a PTFE film with two Cu electrodes. According to the tribo-
tional stiffness of k1 (the effective stiffness of GBA) feedback to the electric series, PTFE has a higher electron affinity than Al, which results in
slider. If the relative displacement of the slider further exceeds negative triboelectric charges on the surface of PTFE film and positive
(d2 − te), where te represents the space consumed by GBA, both gen- triboelectric charges on the Al surface. Fig. 3 shows a schematic of the
erating beams get involved. The additional stiffness is increased to power generation process of the EMG and TENG over a half cycle (not at
k1 + k2, where k2 denotes the effective stiffness of generating beam B the very beginning of the slider vibration, but one after that), which can be
(GBB) during that period. Combined with the magnetic spring force, the separated into four stages. At the neutral position (stage i), the slider is in
restoring force of the generator will have 13 zero points, which denote the center of the rectangular tube with equal negative charges on the Al

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Fig. 2. (a) Schematic drawing of the PEG, (b) the force-displacement curve and the potential energy of the septuple-stable dynamic system, (c) other six stable
equilibrium positions of the slider excluding the middle one.

electrode. Once the slider moves to the right side of the tube (stage ii), the slider during the next cycle. In the third case, the relative displacement
magnetic flux across the coils increases on the right side and decreases on x exceeds the distance d2 − te during the coupled vibration. GBB im-
the left. Current is then generated in the coils in opposite directions for pacts the motion combination of the slider and GBA and does a coupled
different sides according to Lenz's law. Meanwhile, the relative displace- vibration with the motion combination for a while. In this case, the
ment between the slider and the PTFE film results in a different inductive additional stiffness and damping of the system further increase to
potential between the two Cu electrodes, which drives induced electrons k1 + k2 and c1 + c2, respectively. After the short period of coupled
to flow from the left electrode to the right electrode, generating a tribo- vibration, GBB separates from the motion combination and freely vi-
electric current to the left. The electromagnetic and triboelectric currents brates at its own resonant frequency until it collides with the combi-
last until the slider reaches maximum displacement (stage iii). The slider is nation during the next cycle. Meanwhile, the motion combination re-
then pushed back with decreasing displacement by the restoring force of verts to its original motion behavior as in the second case. The
the system (stage iv). The magnetic flux crossing the copper coils decreases piecewise nonlinear governing equations of the proposed tri-hybrid
on the left side and increases on the right, generating an EMG current energy harvester can be obtained as
opposite that of stage ii. Meanwhile, the potential difference between the
mx¨ + ct x + Fmag = mb¨ x < d1
two Cu electrodes decreases, and the inductive electrons flow back to the
mx¨ + (ct + c1) x + k1 (x d1) + Fmag = mb¨ d1 < x < d2 te
left electrode, forming a triboelectric current to the right. The slider then
mx¨ + (ct + c1 + c2) x + k1 (d2 d1 te ) + k2 (x d2 + te ) + Fmag = mb¨ x > d2 te
returns to the initial state and repeats the process on the other side. In this
way, the current is constantly generated by the EMG and TENG. (1)
where m is the proof mass; b(t) = A sin(ω0t); A is the amplitude of the
3.2. Theoretical modeling base excitation; ω0 is the frequency of the base excitation; and ct is the
total damping coefficient equal to the sum of the electrical and me-
A lumped parameter model of the proposed tri-hybrid energy har- chanical damping except for the portion of the generating beams. The
vester under base excitation is shown in Fig. 4(a). When the generator magnetic spring force on the slider is measured at different relative
structure is subjected to harmonic base excitation xb(t) according to the displacements by a force gauge and fitted as a polynomial, shown as
relative displacement of the slider, x, the dynamics of the septuple- Fmag = a1 x + a2 x 3 + a3 x 5 + +an x 2n (2)
1
stable system can be divided into three cases. In the first case, the re-
lative displacement x does not exceed the critical value of d1, no col- where a1, a2,…, an are polynomial coefficients.
lision occurs, and the slider vibrates with a damping of ct under the For the PEG, because GBA is composed of an MFC patch and a
action of the magnetic spring force, Fmag. All generating beams retain beryllium bronze plate, it works as a unimorph cantilever beam,
their positions. In the second case, when the relative displacement x whereas GBB with two MFC patches connected in parallel operates as a
exceeds the critical value of d1 but is less than d2 − te, the slider impacts bimorph cantilever beam. Fig. 5 shows the cross-sectional view of these
GBA and they vibrate together for a short period with additional stiff- two kinds of beams. The z-axis is along the length direction, with z = 0
ness, k1, and damping, c1. After separation from GBA, the slider reverts located at the fixed end. The x-axis is along the thickness direction, with
to its original dynamic behavior as in the first case. Meanwhile, GBA x = 0 at the interface between the beryllium bronze plate and the upper
vibrates freely at its own resonant frequency until it collides with the MFC. For GBA, composed of a beryllium bronze plate with Young's

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Fig. 3. Schematic diagram showing the power generation process of (a) the EMG and (b) the TENG over a half cycle.

structural symmetry. The lateral stress on the MFC for GBA and GBB at
position (z, x) can be respectively written as
k1 xA EM
A (z , x) = (l1 z )(x tn1)
DA com (4)

k2 xB EM tb2
B (z , x) = (l2 z) x
DB com 2 (5)

where
1
l 23 + 3l22 (l1 l2 ) + 3l2 (l1 l2)2 (l1 l2)3
k1 = +
3DA com 3Dnon (6)

3DB com
k2 =
l23 (7)
Fig. 4. An equivalent mechanical model of the proposed tri-hybrid energy 3
EM bM tM E b t
harvester. DA = + b b1 b1 (4tb21 + 6tb1 tM + 3tM
2
)
com
12 12 (8)
3
modulus Eb, length l1, width bB1, and thickness tB1 and an MFC patch, EM bM tM E b t
DB = + b b2 b2 (4tb22 + 6tb2 tM + 3tM
2
)
with Young's modulus EM, length l2, width bM, and thickness tM, the
com
12 6 (9)
position of the neutral axis in the composite region 0 < x < l1 can be
expressed as [59]. Eb bb1 tb31
Dnon =
12 (10)
2
EM tM bM Eb tb21 bb1
tn1 = here, xA and xB are the tip displacements of GBA and GBB, respectively,
2(Eb tb1 bM + EM tM bb1) (3)
DA-com and DB-com are the effective bending moduli of GBA and GBB in
GBB is composed of a beryllium bronze plate with length l2, width the composite region, respectively, and Dnon is the bending modulus of
bb1, and thickness tb1 and two MFC patches, tn2 = tb2/2, due to the GBB in the non-composite region (l2 < x < l1).

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Fig. 5. Schematic cross-sectional view of (a) the unimorph cantilever beam; and (b) the bimorph cantilever beam.

The induced electric fields, EA(z, x) and EB(z, x), for GBA and GBB, where Qsc, C, and σ are the short-circuit transferred charge, the capa-
respectively, in the thickness direction at (z, x) in the MFC patches are citance between two electrodes, and the surface charge density on the
slider, respectively. Because the transferred charge is induced by the
d31 d31 k1 xA EM
EA (z , x ) = × A (z , x) = (l1 z )(x tn1), 0 < z < l2 triboelectric charge on the slider, the potential difference between the
r 0 r 0 DA com two electrodes is proportional to the change of contact area, ΔS.
(11)
3.3. Shaker test results
d31 d31 k2 xB EM tb2
EB (z, x ) = × B (z , x) = (l2 z) x ,
r 0 DB com 2
r 0
The low-frequency tri-hybrid generator was designed to operate
0 < z < l2 (12) within the broad bandwidth of human-induced vibration for powering
portable electronics. Thus, the fabricated tri-hybrid generator was
where d31, 0 , and r are the piezoelectric strain constant, the permit-
tested using both an electrodynamic shaker and manual vibration.
tivity of free space, and the dielectric constant of MFC, respectively.
Fig. 6 shows the experimental setup of the electrodynamic shaker test.
Hence, the generated open-circuit voltages of GBA and GBB can be
Under various base accelerations (0.5 g, 1 g, and 1.5 g), the fre-
respectively given by
quency responses of one GBA, one GBB, the EMG, and the TENG were
1 l2 tM d31 k1 xA EM tM investigated. The measured peak-peak open-circuit voltages in the fre-
Voc A = EA (z, x ) dxdz = (2tn1 + tM )(2l1 l2)
l2 0 0 4 r 0 DA com quency range of 2–12.5 Hz are shown in Fig. 7. Because all the gen-
(13) erators in the device were driven by the same mechanical oscillation,
their voltage responses can exhibit similar broadband resonant beha-
1 l2 tM l2 d31 k2 xB EM tM
Voc B = EB (z , x ) dxdz = (tb2 + tM ) vior due to the septuple-stable nonlinear restoring force of the oscil-
l2 0 0 4 r 0 DB com (14)
lator. At 0.5 g, the generators can produce large peak-peak open-circuit
For the EMG, as described by Faraday's Law of electromagnetic in- voltages at low frequencies owing to the resonant inter-well oscillations
duction [1], the relationships of the open-circuit voltage Voc and the around various local oscillation frequencies. With increasing excitation
short-circuit current Isc can be expressed as frequency, the output voltages dropped by around 5 Hz due to the effect
of frictional damping, and the generators reached minimum output
Voc = Nd /dt (15)
EMG
voltages at 6 Hz (42.9 V for GBA, 36.1 V for GBB, 3.0 V for the EMG, and
Isc EMG = Voc / Rt (16) 37.4 V for the TENG). After 8 Hz, the generators began to exhibit non-
resonant behavior, which generally exists in a springless system with
where N, ϕ, and Rt are, respectively, the number of turns of a coil, the rigid boundaries, and the output voltages increased with increasing
magnetic flux through the area enclosed by the four coils, and the total frequency. Such behavior was induced by the septuple-stable nonlinear
internal coil resistance of the four coils. restoring force. That is, the restoring force was restricted below an ul-
For the TENG, Voc and Isc can be expressed as follows [60]. tralow level (lower than 0.2 N) in the region between the two outermost
Voc TENG = Qsc / C = S /C (17) potential wells, but it increased rapidly when the displacement was
beyond that region. By combining the low-frequency resonant inter-
Isc TENG = dQsc / dt (18) well oscillation behavior and the non-resonant behavior, the septuple-

Fig. 6. Experimental setup of the electrodynamic shaker test.

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Fig. 7. Measured peak-peak open-circuit voltage of (a) one GBA, (b) one GBB, (c) the EMG, and (d) the TENG against different frequencies under 0.5 g, 1 g and 1.5 g
base accelerations using an electrodynamic shaker.

stable generator produced large electric outputs in both low-frequency power was 7.87 mW under an optimum load resistance of 135 kΩ,
and relatively high-frequency ranges, which covered a continuous whereas the corresponding average power was 0.26 mW. For one GBB,
broad bandwidth of 2–12.5 Hz for this study. When the acceleration the maximum power and corresponding average power were 22.05 and
amplitude increased to 1 g, the frequency range of the resonant inter- 0.86 mW, respectively, at an optimum load resistance of 45 kΩ. Because
well oscillations extended to 2–10 Hz, whereas the corresponding vol- most of the energy is output during the coupled vibration, the matching
tage responses changed more gently. When the acceleration amplitude load resistance for a frequency up-converted harvester was experi-
reached 1.5 g, all the generators do resonant inter-well oscillations with mentally found to match the high resonant frequency of the generating
their output voltages increase slowly with frequencies up to 10.5 Hz. beam rather than the low excitation frequency [52]. As a consequence,
Then, with small decreases in their voltage responses, all the generators GBB with a higher resonant frequency of 322.6 Hz matched a load re-
switched to a non-resonant pattern. The frequency response char- sistance less than half that of GBA with a resonant frequency of
acteristics of the generators guaranteed high harvesting efficiencies for 155.9 Hz, thereby leading to much higher power generation.
different kinds of human body-induced vibrations. For the EMG, a maximum power of 8.04 mW (corresponding to
Fig. 8 illustrates the open-circuit voltage and load-circuit current of 2.07 mW average power) was obtained at the matched load of 290 Ω.
one GBA, one GBB, the EMG, and the TENG under an excitation frequency For the TENG, under a matching load resistance of 20 MΩ, the max-
of 5 Hz at 1 g acceleration provided by the electrodynamic shaker. The imum and average powers were 50 and 3.2 μW, respectively. In the
output current of each generator unit was measured at load resistances of proposed tri-hybrid energy harvester, the EMG has low internal im-
135 kΩ, 45 kΩ, 290 Ω, and 20 MΩ. The results show that, even though pedance and high current output, whereas the PEG and the TENG have
GBB's deflection was always 1.5 mm less than that of GBA (the value of high internal impedance, but they can generate much larger voltages
d2 − d1 − te), GBB produced a peak open-circuit voltage of 57.6 V and a than the EMG. To avoid large internal power consumption when the
load-circuit current of 701.6 μA, values that were higher than those of GBA PEG, EMG, and TENG units are working simultaneously, a rectifier
(45.6 V and 241.4 μA, respectively) due to the higher electromechanical bridge circuit was used to combine the electric output of each unit.
coupling factor and the unimorph configuration with parallel connection. Fig. 9(d) shows that the measured hybridized maximum power was
For the EMG, the peak open-circuit voltage and load-circuit current were 24.16 mW, corresponding to an average power of 2.18 mW under an
2.85 V and 5.27 mA, respectively. The TENG produced a high peak open- optimum load resistance of 35 kΩ. In addition, we observe that the
circuit voltage of 42 V, whereas its load-circuit current was as low as hybridized maximum power is significantly reduced when comparing
4.34 μA due to the high internal impedance. with the algebraic sum of output power generated by all the individual
To investigate the output ability of the proposed tri-hybrid energy generators. This issue is raised from the impedance mismatch between
harvester, the maximum output power of one GBA, one GBB, the EMG, different contributing parts when a load is added [1]. Additional power
and the TENG were measured and calculated across different external management circuits can be utilized to match the output impedance of
load resistances at 5 Hz under 1 g acceleration. As shown in Fig. 9, the different working mechanisms and to achieve a better power output
voltage across the load increased with increasing load resistance. performance [61,62]. In this work, a standard rectifier circuit was
However, maximum power was delivered when the load resistance utilized in the experimental studies for a direct comparison with other
matched the source resistance. For one GBA, the obtained maximum works.

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Fig. 8. Measured open-circuit voltage curves and load-current curves of (a, b) GBA, (c, d) GBB, (e, f) EMG, and (g, h) TENG under 5 Hz frequency at 1 g acceleration.

3.4. Human motion test results the horizontal and vertical handshaking tests, the results of which are
depicted in Fig. 10(a), the three-axis acceleration waveforms
The output performance of the tri-hybrid energy harvester under (Fig. 10(b)) show that the horizontal handshaking test was primarily
various basic human motions such as handshaking, walking, and slow controlled along the X axis, with a peak acceleration of ~1.8 g and a
running was evaluated with the device placed in vertical and horizontal frequency of 6.1 Hz, whereas the vertical handshaking test was pri-
positions. The human motion-induced accelerations applied on the marily controlled along the Z axis, with a peak acceleration of ~2 g and
device in the X, Y, and Z axes were simultaneously measured by ac- a frequency of 5.7 Hz. Under the horizontal and vertical handshaking
celerometers. The output power and the charging curves of the tri-hy- activities, the instantaneous peak powers of the harvester at matching
brid energy harvester for charging a 47-μF capacitor were recorded. For load resistances were 38.5 and 42.7 mW, respectively. In addition,

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Fig. 9. Dependence of the output voltage and peak output power on the external load resistance for (a) one GBA and one GBB, (b) the EMG, (c) the TENG and (d) the
tri-hybrid energy harvester.

Fig. 10(c) shows that the capacitor was charged up to 35 V in 15 s and alternating current (AC) waveforms generated by the harvester units
up to 30 V in 27 s from the horizontal and vertical handshaking tests, need to be rectified and stored in an energy-storage unit, such as a
respectively. Comparing the power levels and charging levels provided capacitor or a battery. A schematic diagram of the charging circuit for
by the tri-hybrid energy harvester during the handshaking tests, the the tri-hybrid energy harvester is shown in Fig. 11(a), in which the six
harvester exhibited a higher power level but a lower charging level for rectifier ICs (DB101S) were connected to the generators. Then, the
the vertical test. In the case of vertical handshaking, due to the effect of rectified DC voltage from the generators were connected to a ceramic
gravity and the irregular excitation, the impact on the lower generating capacitor/load in parallel. To avoid the problem of internal power
beams was enhanced, whereas the impact on the upper generating consumption, full wave rectifier bridges were connected to each of the
beams was weakened. In the case of horizontal handshaking, the slider generators to rectify the output voltage from AC to DC, as shown in
efficiently impacted the generating beams on both sides periodically, Fig. 11(a). Then, the worst case that the output voltages of different
which, in turn, generated more power for capacitance charging. mechanisms are in opposite phase can be prevented. The DC outputs
For the tests of walking (5 km/h) and slow-running (8 km/h) on a were connected in parallel to a capacitor. Generally, factors that can
treadmill, the tri-hybrid energy harvester was tied in horizontal and ver- affect the energy storage efficiency are the output impedance and the
tical positions on a person's calf, as shown in Fig. 10(d). The measured voltage matching. The phase delay may not affect the energy storage
acceleration waveforms (Fig. 10(e) and (g)) show that the walking motion efficiency in this case. For most of the hybrid energy harvesters pro-
was primarily generated along the X axis (peak acceleration of ~1.3 g, posed recently, the AC outputs of various generator units are not in
dominant frequency of 2.5 Hz), whereas the slow running motion was phase. They adopted full wave rectifier bridges to address the issue of
primarily generated along the X axis (peak acceleration of ~1.5 g, domi- internal power consumption. To reduce the energy loss caused by rec-
nant frequency of 3.5 Hz) and the Z axis (peak acceleration of ~2.2 g, tifiers, some researchers designed the generator units in phase, e.g.,
dominant frequency of 3.5 Hz). The instantaneous peak powers of the Refs. [1,61]. Then, different generator units can be directly connected
harvester were 24.5 mW (walking, horizontal), 10.2 mW (walking, ver- without rectifiers, the power management circuit is also simplified.
tical), 27.2 mW (slow running, horizontal), and 33.1 mW (slow running, To demonstrate that the tri-energy harvester is an efficient energy/
vertical). Fig. 10(f) shows that the capacitor was charged up to 4.7 V in power source, the output of the hybrid harvester was used to power (by
35 s and up to 1.3 V in 35 s from walking with the harvester placed in the handshaking and slow running) an electronic humidity/temperature
horizontal and vertical positions, respectively. meter with a 100 μF capacitor connected in parallel. The charging–-
For slow running, the capacitor was charged from 0 to 6.6 V in 17 s for discharging characteristics of this 100 μF capacitor under handshaking
the horizontal position and from 0 to 7.7 V in 20 s for the vertical position. is illustrated in Fig. 11(b). The electronic humidity/temperature meter
From the human motion tests, it can be concluded that the best output turned on when the storage capacitor was charged up to 1.3 V after 1 s
power performance of the tri-hybrid energy harvester was obtained from and kept running for as long as the harvester was being excited. When
horizontal handshaking and slow running vibration activities (the hor- the handshaking stopped, the electronic humidity/temperature meter
izontal and vertical positions exhibited similar performance). remained on until the capacitor voltage dropped to 0.85 V at 18 s. Si-
milarly, a handshaking demonstration with various vibration fre-
quencies was recorded and is shown in Video 1. The hybrid harvester's
3.5. Application to electronic devices ability to power the electronic humidity/temperature meter under slow
running is demonstrated in Fig. 11(c) and Video 2. In addition, by
Because most low-power electronics run on DC voltage/current, the

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C. Wang, et al. Nano Energy 64 (2019) 103943

Fig. 10. Demonstration of the tri-hybrid energy harvester under various basic human motions. (a) Photograph of the prototype in horizontal and vertical hand-
shaking tests. (b) Acceleration waveforms measured in horizontal and vertical handshaking tests. (c) Measured voltage of a 47 μF capacitor charged by the prototype
during the horizontal and vertical handshaking tests. (d) Photographs of the walking and slow running test with the prototype tied up on the calf in the horizontal and
vertical position. (e, g) Acceleration waveforms measured in walking and slow running tests, respectively. (f, h) Measured voltage of a 47 μF capacitor charged by the
prototype placed in the horizontal and vertical position during the walking and slow running tests, respectively.

handshaking, the hybrid harvester successfully powered a commercial performance of the frequency up-conversion technique, consequently in-
triaxial accelerometer ADXL335 (Fig. 11(d) and Video 3) and simulta- creasing the power density. The tri-hybrid energy harvester is designed for
neously lit up 80 LEDs (Fig. 11(e) and Video 4). human body-induced motion-based applications, and it offers a high-effi-
Supplementary video related to this article can be found at https:// ciency operating bandwidth that can cover the vibration frequencies of
doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.103943 general human motion. In terms of durability, we kept our prototype
harvester under experiments for a long time, no significant damage of the
generating beams or magnetic slider was observed.
3.6. Performance comparison

A performance comparison between the proposed tri-hybrid energy 4. Conclusions

harvester and recently reported low-frequency hybrid energy harvesters
[2,37,39,44,49,57] is shown in Table 1. Because the prototype was fab- In this work, we designed, fabricated, and tested a low-frequency,
ricated on a macroscale, the comparison was carried out with similar broadband, tri-hybrid energy harvester with septuple-stable non-
devices. The comparison shows that, for low-frequency vibration energy linearity-enhanced mechanical frequency up-conversion mechanism to
harvesting, our proposed device exhibits outstanding performance com- scavenge significant power from various human body-induced vibra-
pared to other reported devices in terms of both the operation bandwidth tions to power portable electronics. Under the electrodynamic shaker
and the power density. The proposed tri-hybrid energy harvester offers a test, the prototype exhibited a broad bandwidth of 2–12.5 Hz, which
novel septuple-stable dynamic system, which not only combines low-fre- covers the vibration frequencies of general human motion, and deliv-
quency resonant inter-well oscillation behavior and the non-resonant be- ered a high output power of 24.16 mW, corresponding to a power
havior to produce a broad bandwidth, it also enhances the output density of 700.3 W/m3 across a loading resistance of 35 kΩ under 5 Hz

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C. Wang, et al. Nano Energy 64 (2019) 103943

Fig. 11. (a) Schematic configuration of the tri-hybridized energy harvester circuit. (b) Charging-discharging behavior of a 100 μF capacitor with an electronic
humidity/temperature meter acting as a load. (c) The proposed device successfully powers the electronic humidity/temperature meter under slow running. (d) A
triaxial accelerometer ADXL335 powered by the device under handshaking. (e) LEDs.

Table 1
Comparison of the proposed tri-hybrid energy harvester with other works reported recently.
Reference (Types) Bandwidth (Hz) Operating conditions Peak power (mW) Power density (W/m3)

Ref. [2] (EM + TE) 4 − 12 6 Hz, 1 g 5.41 395.4

Ref. [37] (PE + EM) 6 − 8.5 6 Hz, 1.5 g 1.41 36.4
Ref. [39] (EM + TE) 46 − 114 80 Hz, 2 g 5.02 × 10−2 0.8
Ref. [44] (EM + TE) 3.5 − 5 4.5 Hz, 0.6 g 10.07 344
Ref. [49] (PE + EM + TE) 10 − 31.5 20 Hz, 0.5 g 3.46 × 10−2 5.4
Ref. [57] (EM + TE) 22 22 Hz, 1 g 19.8 167.2
This work (PE + EM + TE) 2 − 12.5 5 Hz, 1 g 24.16 700.3

g = 9.8 m/s 2, PE = piezoelectric, EM = electromagnetic, TE = triboelectric.

frequency at 1 g acceleration. For various basic human motions such as Acknowledgements

handshaking, walking, and slow running, the prototype generated
output powers of 38.5, 24.5, and 27.2 mW, respectively, in the hor- The work described in this paper was supported by the Early Career
izontal position and 42.7, 10.2, and 33.1 mW, respectively, in the ver- Scheme (Project No. PolyU 252026/16E) and the Research Impact Fund
tical position. The best output power performance was obtained from (Project No. R-5020-18) from the Research Grants Council of the Hong
horizontal handshaking and slow running motions. Moreover, we de- Kong Special Administrative Region. The funding support from the
monstrated the powering of a tri-axial accelerometer and a humidity/ Innovation and Technology Commission of the HKSAR Government to
temperature meter from handshaking and slow-running motions. The the Hong Kong Branch of National Rail Transit Electrification and
prototype exhibited a wider bandwidth and a much higher power Automation Engineering Technology Research Center (Grant No. K-
density than similar devices reported recently. This work makes sig- BBY1) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
nificant progress toward hybrid energy harvesting from various human No. 11872044) is also gratefully acknowledged.
motions and its potential application for powering portable electronics.
Future research will focus on the design of an advanced power man- Appendix A. Supplementary data
agement circuit to match the output impedance of different working me-
chanisms, and a voltage matching circuit for efficient energy storage. With Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
the assistance of these new design circuits, it is expected that not only the doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.103943.
tri-hybrid energy harvester can take the advantages of the newly proposed
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