Electrostatic energy harvesting by droplet-based multi-phase microfluidics

Yildirim E., KÜLAH H.

MICROFLUIDICS AND NANOFLUIDICS, cilt.13, sa.1, ss.107-111, 2012 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 13 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2012
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10404-012-0946-2
  • Dergi Adı: MICROFLUIDICS AND NANOFLUIDICS
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.107-111
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Energy harvesting, Droplet, Droplet-based microfluidics, Electrostatic, Capacitive, GENERATORS
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper presents an energy scavenging technique, merging microfluidics with electrostatic energy harvesting. The method employs droplet-based microflow of two phases with different electrical permittivities, resulting in a capacitance change across the microchannel, to harvest electrical energy. The technique is implemented on 3 mm wide, 1 mm deep minichannels. It is shown that 0.4 nW can be harvested using a single electrode pair, with air and water as the two phases flowing at 1 ml/min. The generated power can be increased significantly by microscale implementation, where the number of electrodes can also be increased for further improvement.