Piezoelectric energy harvesters: A critical assessment and a standardized reporting of power-producing vibrational harvesters

Energy harvesting devices have emerged as an auspicious sustainable energy source for low-power electronics, where delivering electricity using conventional means is not feasible nor desirable. This clear technological impact has drawn huge attention and driven research into energy harvesting materials and devices. Reports are often published, even in high-caliber journals claiming high-efficiency devices. However, these are typically based on poorly defined or even undefined metrics and lack the details needed for re-evaluation and comparing different devices for peer assessment. The enthusiasm to publish is pushing the field towards qualitative rather than quantitative research. Here, after introducing the basic concepts of energy harvesting, randomly selected research papers on piezoelectric energy harvesting devices published over the last two decades, have been assessed. It is shown that essential parameters which are needed for a quantitative evaluation of materials and devices are missing from nearly 90% of the reviewed papers, thus rendering them less reproducible (or even irreproducible) for peer assessment. Such a frequent occurrence of improper data reporting damages the credibility and reliability of the energy harvesting field. To enhance reproducibility and facilitate progress, we herein suggest a measurement and data reporting protocol that should be followed when reporting energy harvesting devices and concomitant performances. The standardized protocol can be further adapted for other vibrational harvesters based on other mechanisms such as triboelectricity.

Automated summary

Energy harvesting devices have become a sustainable energy source for low-power electronics. However, the lack of well-defined metrics and details in research papers has led to qualitative rather than quantitative research. To improve reproducibility, a standardized measurement and data reporting protocol is suggested.