Energy harvesting: a review of recent developments

Purpose – This paper aims to provide details of recent energy harvesting developments. Design/methodology/approach – Following an introduction, this paper first considers mechanical and biomechanical energy harvesting developments. It then discusses hybrid harvesting technologies and self-powered sensors and concludes with a brief discussion. Findings – Energy harvesting is the topic of a major research effort and growing commercial activities. Several advanced technologies are being used to develop sophisticated devices to harvest individual or combined energy sources. These developments are expected to play a central role in many emerging sensor markets. Originality/value – This paper provides technical details of a selection of recently reported energy harvesting developments.