Power Sources for Sensors and Robots in Remote and Inaccessible Environments

The continuous shrinkage of size and the drop of cost have greatly enlarged the application space for sensors and robots based on electronic device. They are being deployed ever further, into environments that were too remote or too confined to be accessed before. The harsh environmental conditions or the extreme size constraints have raised considerable challenge in creating suitable power sources for robots. This thesis works towards addressing the energy demand for sensors in those inaccessible environments, and by extension exploring their potential applications. In specific, we approach this goal in 2 aspects. On one hand, we developed and optimized thermal energy harvesting systems to power wireless sensor nodes in remote locations such as desert and underground environment where solar power is not reliable. We combined theory and experiments to improve the efficiency of these thermal energy harvesters, by optimizing material properties, device configurations and employing nonlinear thermal devices such as thermal diodes. On the other hand, we created picoliter sized Zn-air batteries to provide on-board power for microscopic sensors that can enter highly confined spaces such as the blood vessel and the brain tissue. We overcome the material and fabrication difficulties to create batteries with linear dimensions on the order of 10 μm, providing remarkable energy density of 2.75 μJ/pL. These batteries can power other micro-electronic devices and be released into solutions as colloids. Solving the energy problem paves the way for creating cell-sized autonomous sensors that can collect the information non-invasively in narrow channels like blood vessels and digestive tracts. Hence, we explored theoretically the possibility of using micro-robots to detect leaks inside tubes, revealing one corner of the tremendous potential of microscopic machines. Finally, we investigated the theory and reaction mechanisms of 2D polymers, which can guide the synthesis of low permeability materials for sealing leaks.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Ge

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Strano, Michael S.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright MIT

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150286

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/150286