| Abstract | In the past few years energy scavenging (also known as power harvesting or energy harvesting) from the surroundings has been gaining more attraction. The decrease in both power consumption and size has the great impact on complex digital system. These small devices having strong communication facilities, environmental friendly and high power density can power the remote devices without wires or batteries. The most frequently used ambient energy which includes wind power, light energy, thermal energy and vibration. The technologies exploit diversely convert heat differences, ultraviolet, visible light, human power, body fluids, vibration or any other movement, infrared, dirt, infrared to electricity. Wireless sensors network and wearable devices are the examples of these new paradigms. The survey attempts to provide an inclusive and comprehensive reference for researchers working on design and development of MEMS-based energy harvesting devices. While a lot of innovation and development has been made in energy harvester’s exploration and performance of energy harvesters has been constantly growing, there is still a need to provide the method to enhance the compatibility of energy harvester with other power remote devices. This research is divided into following parts 1. Simulation and fabrication of pyramid shape (ZnO) solid microstructures for micro needle application. 2. The performance analysis of commercially available piezoelectric based energy harvester. 3. The design, simulation and analysis of nanogenerator totally based on perpendicularly aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods using copper (Cu) template. We reported the growth of highly organized (ZnO) nanorods that were effectively synthesized on copper (Cu) template by using a simple hydrothermal method at low temperature leading to huge area nanogenerators (NG) totally based on cost-effective (Cu) electrode which might empower energy harvest from the walking movements. First, the seed layer of gold (Au) has been deposited by plasma sputtering. Then, the growth process of nanorods was effectively carried out in a wrapped chemical bath. The lengths of nanorods 5-6{u1D707}m were achieved. The longer and bigger nanorods produced a surface with larger contact area and higher roughness. The larger contact area improves the absorption rate of incident light and the rougher surface strengthens the scattering effect. The surfaces were eventually characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Then, (Cu) substrate was used for the development of high-output NG. Twenty-seven NGs were developed with maximum output voltage that exceeded to 1.8V and maximum output current that exceeded to 148nA. The structural simulation of nanorods has also been performed in ANSYS. The (Cu) substrate-based nanogenerator (NG) delivers a practical method for efficiently transforming mechanical energy to electrical energy via external force. The performance analysis of commercially available piezo generator was conducted, which transforms mechanical vibration into electrical energy. The association concerning the dynamic response of piezo generator and its power production is realized. The effective energy transfer of mechanical structure and effective electromechanical conversion of piezoelectric material make the piezoelectric generator an extraordinary performance. The piezoelectric generator produces maximum output voltage of 4.3V which is 0.012µW/cm2 . Numerical structural simulation has been performed in (ANSYS) to explore the deflection and strength of microstructure. Simulation was performed by making 3D model of single micro needle with applied force 0.2 to 0.7N. The simulation results show that the maximum deflection was 4.06µm and resultant stress values are within the limit of material strength. The (ZnO) solid microstructure has been fabricated on brass substrate. The adhesive layer of chromium with thickness of 20nm and gold seed layer with thickness of 50nm have been deposited by plasma sputtering. Then the fabrication of (ZnO) solid micro needle has been carried out by using simple dip coating method at low temperature. The surface was characterized and analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The length of micro needles is 30µm. The fabrication process was repeated to confirm the new fabrication method of micro needle by using existing technologies. Hence, the fabrication of micro needles was confirmed even in second time. All previous method of micro needle’s fabrication involves complex fabrication steps like photo resist coating, masking, etching, pattern transfer and lithography. The presented method of solid micro needles does not involve any complex fabrication step. This technique is quite simple and cost effective. The fabricated micro needles can be used for drug delivery, skin treatment and energy generation process for nanogenerator. |