Abstract

Recent advancements in technology have led to the development of micro-scale energy harvesting technologies, which have the potential to enable self-autonomous devices and intelligent monitoring activities. However, these technologies still face challenges such as narrow bandwidth and low output performance. The report aims to address two key questions: “How can we expand and improve the working frequency of energy harvesting devices?” and “How can we use micro/nano processing technology to enhance output efficiency?”. It introduces the mechanism characteristics, manufacturing methods, and device applications, including multi-mode nonlinear frequency expansion theory and helical gear clutch frequency up mechanism, etch-free micro-charge graphic preparation method, and research on the application of micro/nano energy harvesting devices in human-machine interaction interfaces and self-powered wireless health monitoring. This may lay the technical foundation for overcoming the practical limitations of micro/nano energy harvesting devices.

About the Speaker

Professor Kai Tao is a faculty member in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University. He holds a B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Microelectronics from Central South University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, respectively. He earned his Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University in 2016. From December 2015 to February 2017, he was a postdoctoral research fellow with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology project. Since February 2017, he has been leading a research team in the Department of Microsystem Engineering at Northwestern Polytechnical University. His research interests revolve around the fabrication of NEMS/MEMS, energy harvesting and self-powered MEMS devices. He has published over 100 papers and has been cited over 5500 times with an H-index of 42, according to Google Scholar. Seventeen of his papers have been recognized as highly cited papers. He was selected for the National Youth Talent Program and listed in the World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford (top 0.5% in 2023).