Abstract: I will present the first experimental evidence of a thermoelectric effect at the liquid-metal interface of gallium and mercury at room temperature. This new effect, which is due to the interaction between the Seebeck effect and thermal convection, yields current densities nearly two orders of magnitude higher than those of conventional solid-state devices. In addition, applying a magnetic field enables efficient thermoelectric pumping of the fluids. This recent discovery paves the way for advanced thermoelectric cooling systems and liquid metal battery technologies.

By providing solutions to the design strategy of electromechanism and material formation processes in the past few years, we have reached the last one mile of commercialization of MEMS vibrational energy harvesters using the electrostatically induced current of electret. In addition to an overview of device development, this invited talk covers the techniques to improve the long-term reliability and the development of derivative applications.

One of the shared goals of Power MEMS and Silicon Photonics is to deliver systems for sensing, signal processing, and communications with low or no requirements for external power. That shared goal makes combining MEMS and photonics a compelling research focus. In this talk we describe how the power requirements of advanced Silicon Photonics applications are compatible with power MEMS, we demonstrate how MEMS can further improve the power requirements of Silicon Photonics, and we outline how Power MEMS combined with Silicon Photonics will enable powerful, autonomous, sensing and edge-computing systems.