Ocean wave energy harvesting with high energy density and self-powered monitoring system

Constructing a ocean Internet of Things requires an essential ocean environment monitoring system. However, the widely distributed existing ocean monitoring sensors make it impractical to provide power and transmit monitored information through cables. Therefore, ocean environment monitoring systems particularly need a continuous power supply and wireless transmission capability for monitoring information. Consequently, a high-strength, environmentally multi-compatible, floatable metamaterial energy harvesting device has been designed through integrated dynamic matching optimization of materials, structures, and signal transmission. The self-powered monitoring system breaks through the limitations of cables and batteries in the ultra-low-frequency wave environment (1 to 2 Hz), enabling real-time monitoring of various ocean parameters and wirelessly transmitting the data to the cloud for post-processing. Compared with solar and wind energy in the ocean environment, the energy harvesting device based on the defective state characteristics of metamaterials achieves a high-energy density (99 W/m³). For the first time, a stable power supply for the monitoring system has been realized in various weather conditions (24 h).

Ze-Qi Lu, Long Zhao, Hai-Ling Fu, Eric Yeatman, Hu Ding, Li-Qun Chen