The research activity at NANERG LAB turns around the study of micro and nano-optoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS/NOEMS) as transducers elements in new energy harvesting, energy storage and energy transfer concepts at the micro and nanoscale. The main research lines are:
AMBIENT MECHANICAL VIBRATION ENERGY HARVESTING
Energy harvesting from low acceleration (0.1 ms-2) and low frequency (100Hz) ambient mechanical vibrations, using integrated resonators with piezoelectric and electrostatic transduction. This line was started in the framework of the national project MEMSPORT together with ECAS group and was carried out by Gonzalo Murillo during his thesis (Integration of resonant N/MEMS for energy harvesting from ambient vibrations, UAB-2011).
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION ENERGY HARVESTING
Energy harvesting from electromagnetic radiation energy sources using MEMS and NEMS coupled to optical antenna as transducer elements. This line was started in collaboration with Prof. Javier Alda’s group (UCM) and was supported by the thesis of Jordi Agustí (Nonlinear micro/nano-optomechanical oscillators for energy transduction from IR sources, UAB-2014).
NON-LINEAR BASED ENERGY HARVESTING
Energy harvesting from wide band and non-coherent energy sources by means of non-linear MEMS and NEMS elements. This line was started in collaboration with Dr. Riccardo Rurali (ICMAB-CSIC) and main results are collected in the thesis of Miquel López-Suárez (Non-linear Nanoelectromechanical Systems for Energy Harvesting, UAB-2014).
NANOMECHANICAL ENERGY STORAGE
Energy storage in a pure mechanical format using dense arrays of compressed nanowires. This line was started in collaboration with Dr. Francesc Torres in the framework of the thesis of O.G.Súchil (Synthesis and characterization of ZnO finewires for the conceptual design of a mechanical battery, UAB-2017).
DIRECT TRANSDUCTION FROM THE ELECTROMAGNETIC TO THE MECHANICAL DOMAIN
The energy of an electromagnetic radiation is converted in a static or dynamic mechanical actuation in a device called MEMSTENNA, which combines the functionality of a mechanical MEMS structure with the EM reception functionality of an anTENNA. This line was developed in the thesis of Raul Ruiz (Direct transduction from electromagnetic to mechanical domain, UAB-2025) and the thesis of Daniyal Khoshmaram (Optomechanical transduction in the near infrared range: coupling optical nanoantennas to micro and nanoelectromechanical systems, UAB-2025).