Mechano-electronic integration of accordion-mechanical energy harvester for angle sensing and energy autarky

To enable mechano-electronic integration, future devices must be equipped with the capability to harvest energy from complex vibrations that vary in direction, frequency, and amplitude. Additionally, achieving a balance between energy harvesting and motion sensing within a single structure remains challenging due to their inherently opposing design principles. Reported studies focus on achieving performance indicators in single directional operation, while paying less consideration to efficiency and stability in complex environments. Although there have been some attempts to address this, these devices suffer from limited stability and incur high maintenance costs due to their stacking design. Herein, we develop an accordion-inspired design and study the relationships between its geometric parameters, interlayer separation dynamics, and output performance to maximize the electrical output while achieving high angle sensitivity. Different from reported work on multilayer designs—primarily aimed at increasing effective contact area by increasing the number of layers—this study investigates interlayer separation dynamics and provides solution to compensate the reduction in output gain with continuous increasing number of layers. The device yields a sustainable power output of 472.5 mW/m² at low frequency of 1 Hz with high sensitivity of 7 V/°, compared to mV-level in most reported angle sensing works, and 0.2 μA/°. Furthermore, we pioneer a 2-m prototype and demonstrate its application in a gate system, showcasing its customizability and adaptability in real world application. © 2026 Elsevier B.V.