3. Intelligent textiles for energy recovery

Energy harvesting is the process by which ambient energy (solar, mechanical, electromagnetic, etc.) is converted into electrical energy. Energy recovery from sources such as the wind or the sun has been around for a long time. It can produce power measured in megawatts, but is not well suited to micro-environments, where needs are expressed in small, highly localized amounts of power. What's more, the trend towards locally-powered portable devices or connected textiles, without the use of heavy, inefficient batteries, amplifies the need for sources of energy recovery produced by local movements, or the recovery and transmission of existing energy in the form of electromagnetic waves present around us.

Other limitations on the size and functionality of microelectronic systems may depend on the applications themselves. For example, in the biomedical field, the main...