Abstract
Recent advances in the field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have generated great interest in thesubstitution of inorganic microcantilevers by organic ones, due to their low cost, high flexibility and a simplifiedfabrication by means of printing methods. Here, we present the integration of electrostrictive nanocompositesinto organic microcantilever resonators specifically designed for mechanical energy harvesting from ambientvibrations. Strain sensitive nanocomposite materials composed of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) dispersed inpolydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are integrated into all-organic MEMS by means of an innovative low-cost andenvironment friendly process by combining printing techniques and xurography. Static tests of the electrostrictivenanocomposite with 3.7 wt% rGO show good performances with variations of capacitance that exceeds4% for strain values lower than 0.55% as the microcantilever is bent. The results in dynamic mode suggest thatthe organic MEMS meet the requirements for vibration energy harvesting. With an applied sinusoidal acceleration(amplitude 0.5 g, frequency 15 Hz) a power density of 6 μW/cm3 is achieved using a primitive circuit.