Energy Harvesting for Self-Powered Microsystems: A Critical Review of Materials, Power Management, and System…

Abstract

The relentless proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable bioelectronics, and cyber-physical infrastructure has rendered the conventional electrochemical battery the single most prohibitive bottleneck to long-term, maintenance-free autonomous microsystems. Energy harvesting, i.e. the conversion of ambient mechanical, thermal, and radiative energy into usable electrical power, has consequently emerged as a transformative paradigm to realize perpetual, battery-independent operation. This review critically synthesizes the most significant advances in energy harvesting technologies over the recent period, with a focus on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), piezoelectric and pyroelectric transducers, indoor photovoltaics, radio-frequency (RF) rectennas, and their multi-source hybrid integrations. We highlight paradigm-shifting breakthroughs, including liquid-solid TENGs that eliminate mechanical wear, nonlinear piezoelectric oscillators that broaden operational bandwidth by over 300%, machine-learning-accelerated material discovery for high charge-density dielectrics, and multiband and broadband RF harvesting enabled by metamaterial architectures. Crucially, we move beyond conventional materials-centric narratives to critically interrogate the "unseen" system-level bottlenecks: ultra-low-voltage cold-start power management integrated circuits (PMICs), the impedance-matching challenges of hybrid energy sources, and the persistent degradation of micro-supercapacitors and thin-film batteries under realistic field conditions.

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BibTeX

@misc{lin2026energy,
  title = {{Energy Harvesting for Self-Powered Microsystems: A Critical Review of Materials, Power Management, and System Integration}},
  author = {Lyuye Lin and Feng Zhifu and Ermanno Miele and Giuseppe Cantarella and Elena Degoli and Diego Angeli and Lethy Krishnan Jagadamma and Feng Gao and Michele Magno and Ivano Eligio Castelli and Tommaso Ongarello and Chunbo Liu and Roman Krahne and Denis Garoli and Remo Proietti Zaccaria},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.20157},
  eprint = {2609.20157},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.20157},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Energy Harvesting for Self-Powered Microsystems: A Critical Review of Materials, Power Management, and System Integration
AU  - Lyuye Lin
AU  - Feng Zhifu
AU  - Ermanno Miele
AU  - Giuseppe Cantarella
AU  - Elena Degoli
AU  - Diego Angeli
AU  - Lethy Krishnan Jagadamma
AU  - Feng Gao
AU  - Michele Magno
AU  - Ivano Eligio Castelli
AU  - Tommaso Ongarello
AU  - Chunbo Liu
AU  - Roman Krahne
AU  - Denis Garoli
AU  - Remo Proietti Zaccaria
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/17
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.20157
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.20157
AB  - The relentless proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable bioelectronics, and cyber-physical infrastructure has rendered the conventional electrochemical battery the single most prohibitive bottleneck to long-term, maintenance-free autonomous microsystems. Energy harvesting, i.e. the conversion of ambient mechanical, thermal, and radiative energy into usable electrical power, has consequently emerged as a transformative paradigm to realize perpetual, battery-independent operation. This review critically synthesizes the most significant advances in energy harvesting technologies over the recent period, with a focus on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), piezoelectric and pyroelectric transducers, indoor photovoltaics, radio-frequency (RF) rectennas, and their multi-source hybrid integrations. We highlight paradigm-shifting breakthroughs, including liquid-solid TENGs that eliminate mechanical wear, nonlinear piezoelectric oscillators that broaden operational bandwidth by over 300%, machine-learning-accelerated material discovery for high charge-density dielectrics, and multiband and broadband RF harvesting enabled by metamaterial architectures. Crucially, we move beyond conventional materials-centric narratives to critically interrogate the "unseen" system-level bottlenecks: ultra-low-voltage cold-start power management integrated circuits (PMICs), the impedance-matching challenges of hybrid energy sources, and the persistent degradation of micro-supercapacitors and thin-film batteries under realistic field conditions.
ER  -

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