Coupling of electro-active polymers for energy harvesting applications

Harvesting human kinetic energy to produce electricity is an attractive alternative to batteries for applications in wearable electronic devices and smart clothing. Among the different technologies, electrostatic converters represent one of the most promising method for this application. This paper presents a soft electret-based energy harvesting device which exploits human body movement as energy source to produce electricity. The device consists on an electret polymer coupled with an elastomeric deformable membrane. The impact of the characteristics and properties of materials on the power output of the device was evaluated leading to the best choice for materials: Sylgard 186 as elastomeric membrane and Parylene C as electret. The experimental results of the performance of Parylene C as electret polymer are presented and discussed.