Electromechanical metamaterials have been the focus of many recent studies for use in simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration control. Metamaterials with quasiperiodic patterns possess many useful topological properties that make them a good candidate for study. However, it is currently unknown what effect electromechanical coupling may have on the topological bandgaps and localized edge modes of a quasiperiodic metamaterial. In this paper, we study a quasiperiodic metamaterial with electromechanical resonators to investigate the effect on its bandgaps and localized vibration modes. We derive here the analytical dispersion surfaces of the proposed metamaterial. A semi-infinite system is also simulated numerically to validate the analytical results and show the band structure for different quasiperiodic patterns, load resistors, and electromechanical coupling coefficients. The topological nature of the bandgaps is detailed through an estimation of the integrated density of states. Furthermore, the presence of topological edge modes is determined through numerical simulation of the energy harvested from the system. The results indicate that quasiperiodic metamaterials with electromechanical resonators can be used for effective energy harvesting without changes in the bandgap topology for weak electromechanical coupling.
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Materials and approaches for on-body energy harvesting
The human body is a challenging platform for energy harvesting. For thermoelectrics, the small temperature differences between the skin and air necessitate materials with low thermal conductivities in order to maintain useful output powers. For kinetic harvesting, human motion is not strongly tonal, the frequencies are very low, and the accelerations are modest. Kinetic harvesting can be split into two categories—inertial, in which human motion excites an inertial mass–the motion of which is transduced to electricity, and clothing integrated, in which the harvesting material is integrated with a garment or other flexible wearable system. In the first case, key issues are the electromechanical dynamics of the system and materials with improved electromechanical transduction figures of merit. In the second case, materials that provide flexibility, stretchability, and comfort are of primary importance.
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- PAR ID:
- 10099766
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- MRS Bulletin
- Volume:
- 43
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0883-7694
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 206 to 213
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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