Dr. Liu received the Best Research Award in 2019 NanoSymposium on SPM

Dr. Liu received the Best Research Award from the 2019 US Nanoscientifc Symposium on Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM), jointly organized by the Park System, SUNY Polytech, and Nanoscientifc Publications in Albany, NY on November 19th, 2019. Dr. Liu delivered a presentation on the discovery of DC generation at metal/semiconductor moving Schottky contact with conductive-atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), and how he led the efforts for scaled-up application for high-efficient mechanical energy harvesting.

Self-powered solution get funded by Accelerator Program

The self-powered sensing project led by Prof. Jun Liu group received support from UB Accelerator Program for developing energy solutions for IoT

Self-powered solutions can provide energy solutions for IoT sensors for condition monitoring, data transmission, and predictive maintenance (bridge, building, railway, pipeline, etc). Meanwhile, the rising environmental concerns for the disposal of Li-ion batteries have been driving the legislation of regulations/laws in many countries. The sustained self-powering solutions will address the Li-ion battery disposal issue; thus helping to reduce the fabrication/indirect costs due to environmental regulations. There is a great interest in identifying a reliable, sustained, and cost-effective solution for the self-powering system. Achilles’ heel

Current self-powered solutions are either cumbersome or possess poor performance with low current output, inefficient for low-grade, low frequency (<10Hz) mechanical energy source)

In this solution, a novel technology has been developed for high efficient mechanical energy harvesting and storage in a single-piece of materials. This device includes a special material, which, when coupled with its contact configuration, can directly convert mechanical energy (such as human body motion, heartbeat, tidal wave, vehicle vibration/brake…) into direct-current (DC) electricity with high current density. Further, this special type of material is capable of storing the energy much like a battery or a capacitor.