ABSTRACTSelf-powered microsystems as an alternative to standard systems powered by electrochemical batteries are taking a growing interest. In this work, we propose a different method to store the energy harvested from the ambient which is performed in the mechanical domain. Our mechanical storage concept is based on a spring which is loaded by the force associated to the energy source to be harvested [1]. The approach is based on pressing an array of fine wires (fws) grown vertically on a substrate surface. For the fine wires based battery, we have chosen ZnO fine wires due the fact that they could be grown using a simple and cheap process named hydrothermal method [2]. We have reported previous experiments changing temperature and initial pH of the solution in order to determine the best growth [3]. From new experiments done varying the compounds concentration the best results of fine wires were obtained. To characterize these fine wires we have considered that the maximum load we can apply to the system is limited by the linear buckling of the fine wires. From the best results we obtained a critical strain of εc = 3.72 % and a strain energy density of U = 11.26 MJ/m3, for a pinned-fixed configuration [4].
Experimental determination of critical strain energy density of ductile materials
