Huai-An Chin, Ph.D candidate of Electrical Engineering Department, Princeton University

1. Bionic Energy From Ourselves
Huai-An Chin
McAlpine Research Group
Princeton University

2. • Human-Machine Interfaces
• Smart Prosthetics
Definition of ‘Bionic’
Courtesy: Ekso Bionics
Bionics: Developing mechanical
robots that can behave
increasingly more human-like

3. IBM Syst. J. 35, 618 (1996).
Bioelectronic Power
Courtesy: Lucien Monfils

4. Bioelectronic Power
http://www.the9billion.com/2011/01/16/stockholm-train-station-harvesting-body-
heat-to-warm-building/

5. Outline
1) Piezoelectricity
2) Triboelectricity
3) Outlook

6. Piezoelectricity
Materials Science and
Engineering R, 70, 320
(2010).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity

7. 5 nm
Flexible PZT
Nano Lett. 13, 6197 (2013).
2 𝜇m
Science 328, 304 (2010).

8. 1 cm
Biointerfaced PZT Device
Nature Nano 7, 587 (2012).

9. Biointerfaced PZT Device
Nature Nano 7, 587 (2012).

10. 0.82 µW/cm2 @ 100 Hz
Power Output Metrics

11. 15 µm20 µm
Nature Nano 7, 587 (2012).
Piezoelectric Biomechanical Probes
Nature 413, 428 (2001).

12. Force ~ 1.5 nN | Deflection ~ 1 nm
Bioelectromechanical Response

13. Triboelectricity
Nano Lett. 12, 4960 (2012).
• Charge transfer by which two materials, after contact with each other, become
electrically charged in opposite signs.

14. Nano Lett. 13, 2282 (2013).
Triboelectric Generators

15. Nano Lett. 13, 2282 (2013).
Triboelectric Generators

16. Outlook
• Larger Area
• Wireless Energy
Transfer
• Higher Efficiency
• Circuit Design

17. Funding: AFOSR, Intelligence Community, NSF, DuPont, ARO, DARPA,
American Asthma Foundation, Lockheed Martin
Collaborators: Michael J. Berry, David H. Gracias, Rajesh R. Naik,
Prashant K. Purohit, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, Naveen Verma
McAlpine Research Group