Flexible Energy Harvester with Piezoelectric and Thermoelectric Hybrid Mechanisms for Sustainable Harvesting

In this paper, we present a flexible hybrid energy harvester for single- or multi-source energy collection. To increase harvesting power, piezoelectric and thermoelectric conversions are used simultaneously. The piezoelectric portion of the harvester collects energy from low-frequency kinetic motion using frequency up-conversion. The thermoelectric part is suitable for harvesting energy from a curved surface, thanks to its flexibility. By harvesting from two different energy sources (kinetic and thermal), the harvester allows for sustainable energy harvesting. The average power density obtained was 28.57 and 0.64 mu W/cm(2) by piezoelectric and thermoelectric conversion, respectively.