Biocompatible AlN-based piezo energy harvesters for implants

In this work, we show that thin biocompatible AlN films reveal a stable, frequency independent piezoresponse demonstrating a good applicability for implantable micro-generators. It was demonstrated that although more power is generated by resonant (tensile stressed) systems, e.g. cantilevers and planar membranes, the non-resonant (compressive stressed) systems, e.g. corrugated membranes, are preferable for this purpose due to the generation of sufficient power at low-frequency aperiodic vibrations and at very low accelerations.