Perforated electrode for performance optimization of electrostatic energy harvester

We have proposed a novel design of perforated electrode structure for electrostatic vibration energy harvester. Holes with different diameters have been manufactured to optimize the air damping condition for the resonant device during vibration. Compared with the regular electrode, higher power output can be achieved at lower amplitude of external vibration source, which gives a large normalized power density. This design avoids the vacuum packaging which may cause surface charge decay and process complexity. For the device with 36 pores and diameter of 700 μm, a high power of 12 μW was generated at a low acceleration of 4.9 m/s², which gives a high normalized power density of 0.25 mW/cm³/g² at atmosphere.