Electrostatic force-induced broadband effect in electret-based vertical vibration energy harvesters using finegrained stainless steel oscillator

Abstract

We propose a fine-grained stainless-steel as a promising material for a robust oscillator and investigate the dependence of frequency band width, resonance frequency, and output power on initial air gaps in electret-based vertical vibration energy harvesters. Beams of the oscillator showed a shallow side-etched depth less than 10 μm, as well as smooth edges. The oscillator succeeded in travelling over 1-mm displacement without fracture. Also, we found that broader frequency band, as well as lower resonance frequency, can be achieved with reducing the initial air gap, whereas the output power exhibited a peak value at an optimal initial air gap. The results may be attributed to the soft spring effect induced by the stronger electrostatic force. Maximum output power density and FWHM of frequency band width of our harvester are 4.7 μW/cm3 and 14 Hz at initial air gap 0.3 mm and acceleration 4.9 m/s2.