Research

Our research focuses on battery-free intelligent systems powered by ambient energy. We develop technologies that convert environmental energy into electricity, integrate sensing and computing into ultra-low-power systems, and deploy them in real-world applications ranging from smart infrastructure to digital health.

Our work is organized around four tightly connected research pillars:
Structures → Energy → Systems → Applications.

Structures

Functional Mechanical Structures for Energy and Sensing

Mechanical structures play a foundational role in our research. Before energy can be harvested or processed by electronic systems, mechanical structures must efficiently capture, amplify, and regulate environmental physical stimuli such as vibration, motion, and fluid flow.

Our work investigates how structural design, nonlinear mechanics, and architected materials can enhance energy conversion and sensing performance. By engineering structures across multiple scales—from compliant beams and nonlinear oscillators to metamaterial lattices and fluid–structure interaction systems—we aim to control how mechanical energy is concentrated and transferred to transduction mechanisms.

Representative research topics include nonlinear mechanical oscillators, metamaterial-based vibration structures, fluid–structure interaction mechanisms for flow energy harvesting, bio-inspired impact and motion amplification structures, and architected materials for mechanical sensing and energy concentration.

Examples of mechanical structures, metamaterials, and structural designs enabling efficient energy harvesting and sensing.

Energy

Ambient Energy Harvesting

We develop technologies that capture energy from the surrounding environment to power electronic systems without batteries. Our research explores a wide spectrum of energy sources, including vibration, motion, ocean waves, thermal gradients, light, and ambient radio-frequency signals. By combining advanced transduction mechanisms, structural design, and system-level optimization, we aim to provide sustainable and reliable power supplies for autonomous sensors and distributed Internet of Things (IoT) nodes.

Representative topics include vibration and motion energy harvesting, ocean-wave energy harvesting systems, thermoacoustic energy harvesting from industrial waste heat, RF energy harvesting for ultra-low-power electronics, and hybrid energy harvesting architectures.

Representative research examples and prototypes related to ambient energy harvesting.

Systems

Battery-Free Intelligent Systems

Beyond energy harvesting, our research focuses on integrating energy conversion, power management, sensing, and computation into fully autonomous systems. We develop ultra-low-power architectures that enable sensing, processing, and communication without conventional batteries.

These systems combine energy harvesting devices, power management circuits, embedded computing, and wireless communication modules to create self-sustained sensing platforms. Such systems enable long-term, maintenance-free operation for distributed sensing networks and smart infrastructure monitoring.

Key research topics include ultra-low-power electronics, self-powered sensing systems, energy-aware system design, and integrated energy-information co-harvesting platforms.

Examples of integrated battery-free sensing and intelligent system platforms.

Applications

Self-Powered Sensing and Intelligent Infrastructure

We translate energy harvesting and self-powered systems into real-world applications across multiple domains. Our work aims to enable long-lived sensing platforms that operate without batteries, reducing maintenance cost while improving reliability and sustainability.

Application scenarios include smart infrastructure monitoring, intelligent transportation systems, digital health monitoring, wearable sensing, and distributed environmental sensing networks.

By integrating mechanical energy harvesting, ultra-low-power electronics, and intelligent sensing, we aim to build the technological foundation for next-generation battery-free Internet of Things.