FleEnSys Themes
The FleEnSys research group is focused on alternative and green energy sources to power small electronics and sensing platforms due to depleting fossil fuels and global warming. The group was also created to develop self-powered solutions for physical-, chemical-, and bio-sensing platforms mainly oriented to the monitoring of applications, comprising areas of food, health, water, air pollution. To tackle these challenges, we target our efforts into three overlapping/interlinked research categories (themes).
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Energy Harvesting Devices
This research theme explores the ancient phenomenon of triboelectrification to harvest mechanical energy wasted in the environment such as human motion, vibration, mechanical triggering, rotation energy, wind, flowing water, etc. into electricity. The theme is in particularly focused on engineering new energy harvesting setups to mimic daily life of a user. The goal is to incorporate new energy harvesting systems into real-life by reducing additional bulky devices, without compromising comfort while scavenging environmental sources.
Service Name
Energy Storing Devices
This research theme is interlinked with the energy harvesting systems. The energy produced by the nanogenerators needs to be stored (e.g., a supercapacitor or a battery) to be efficiently utilized when needed. We are focused on aligning energy harvesting materials with energy-storing materials to minimize the commercial integration and miniaturization of the self-powering devices.
Service Name
Self-powered Sensors & Electronics
This theme is focused on developing and investigating novel properties of advanced nitrogen-doped non-porous materials and inorganic nanoparticles to develop electrochemical- biosensors and heterogeneous catalysts to capture gases to monitor food quality, health condition, and CO2 capture to abate global warming respectively. The sensors are selectively designed by developing new methods to control the behavior of nanostructured materials or to create new chemically controlled structures by surface modification with thorough Investigation of their electronic structure.