Harvesting energy from Faraday waves

Since their discovery in 1831, Faraday waves have played a crucial role in the development of novel methodologies for vibration absorption or assembly of microscale materials including soft matter and biological constituents. This work discusses a fundamentally different application of Faraday waves. A new methodology is proposed to harness energy from environmental vibrations via the activation of Faraday waves on the surface of a magnetic fluid. To this end, a proof-of-concept of the proposed harvester is first presented and its performance is experimentally analyzed near the principal parametric resonances of the first and second modes. Subsequently, a mathematical model is constructed to describe the dynamic behavior of the harvester using perturbation techniques. The model is validated against experimental data and light is shed onto the favorable conditions for energy harvesting.