Integrated Green Energy Solutions, Volume 1

10Flexible Metamaterials for Energy Harvesting Applications

K.A. Karthigeyan¹, E. Manikandan²*, E. Papanasam² and S. Radha¹

¹Department of ECE, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, India

²School of Electronics Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai Campus, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Metamaterials are manmade structures exhibiting many exotic properties like a negative index of refraction, cloaking, and so forth. These are majorly used as electromagnetic wave manipulators. Based on the structure and material properties either it will transmit, reflect or absorb the incident waves. In particular, it can be designed to absorb a particular region of electromagnetic spectrum starting from radiofrequency to ultra-violet region. The structure geometrical parameters are adjusted for obtaining the desired frequency range for a particular material. By using a suitable structure, the incident electromagnetic wave is absorbed and can be converted into useful electrical energy further. In the case of solar cells, the metamaterial is being integrated with the system for intensifying the absorption of the incident waves. Also, thermal energy harvesting is being done using metamaterial absorbers. By designing the suitable structure and using proper rectifying circuits, RF energy harvesting can also be done. This chapter starts with an introduction to energy harvesting, and continues with metamaterial, its design principle, absorber designs for various energy harvesting applications, ...