Inducing bistability with local electret technology in a microcantilever based non-linear vibration energy harvester

A micro-electro-mechanical system based vibration energy harvester is studied exploring the benefits of bistable non linear dynamics in terms of energy conversion. An electrostatic based approach to achieve bistability, which consists in the repulsive interaction between two electrets locally charged in both tip free ends of an atomic force microscope cantilever and a counter electrode, is experimentally demonstrated. A simple model allows the prediction of the measured dynamics of the system, which shows an optimal distance between the cantilever and the counter electrode in terms of the root mean square vibration response to a colored Gaussian excitation noise. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.