
Vito Kortbeek and Przemysław Pawełczak
As energy harvesting has become more
prevalent for low-voltage IoT and smart devices,
chip makers have integrated the discrete
components required to efficiently harvest
the most energy possible onto a single chip to
optimize size and performance. Now, anyone
can buy chips and breakout boards from Digi-
Key, SparkFun, and Adafruit that can harvest
solar, piezoelectric, thermal, and even radio
wave energy. These ICs range in sophistication
(and price) from simple step-down or step-up
voltage regulators to much more sophisticated
chips with built-in rectifiers or maximum power
point tracking (MPPT).
What is ...