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With the advent of technology miniaturization, portable electronic devices are evolving at a
rapid pace, especially in the field of wireless sensor networks for IoT applications. On the contrary, battery
technology has not seen a similar growth in miniaturization. Also, frequent replacement of batteries is
challenging for devices located in remote places. Energy harvesting from ambient conditions may be one
solution to the above challenges. The IoT and powering of portable devices are becoming increasingly pop-
ular among researchers working on structural health monitoring systems. Thermoelectric, piezoelectric,
electromagnetic, electrostatic and triboelectric mechanisms are the major energy transduction methods
adopted in the development of energy harvesting devices. Many of these devices have limitations including
relatively low power density, narrow bandwidth and low efficiency at lower frequencies. The virtual Inter-
national Conference on Advances in Energy Harvesting Technology (ICAEHT 2021, 18–20 March 2021)
was organized to bring together researchers working on energy harvesting to discuss possible solutions
to the above limitations and future directions. The content of this special issue was inspired from the
contributions and discussions made during the ICAEHT 2021 and a few more from invited papers. The
19 selected papers cover thermoelectric, piezoelectric, electromagnetic and triboelectric energy harvesters.
Modelling, analysis, optimization, control, experimentation, energy management and application aspects
of the harvesters are covered in this special issue entitled “Energy harvesting: materials, structures and
methods”. We hope that readers will find this special issue quite interesting, encouraging and novel.
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