Project Overview

Energy harvesting technologies, which convert the vast amounts of unused kinetic and thermal energy that exist within the natural environment into sources of electricity, are a vital part of bringing a true IoT society to life, with no reliance on power sources. This project aims to establish an educational and research base to accelerate progress in research related to energy harvesting materials and harvesters. More specifically, our focus is on piezoelectric, magnetorestrictive, and thermoelectric materials, as well as composites involving these, with the goal of establishing an international joint research system in cooperation with educators and researchers in the UK and China. This will lay the academic groundwork for the development of multi-source energy harvesters, and help train a new generation of researchers to play active roles in interdisciplinary fields through international exchange seminars, student exchange programs, and internships.