Devices and systems incorporating energy harvesting components/devices as autonomous energy sources and as energy supplementation, and methods for producing devices and systems incorporating energy harvesting components/devices

An electrically-powered device structure, comprising:

• at least one electrically-energized device component provided on a surface of a structure;
• and
• an energy harvesting component formed on a mounting surface for separately mounting the energy harvesting component with respect to the surface of the structure, the energy harvesting component comprising:
• a first conductor layer formed of a first conductive material on the mounting surface, a facing surface of the first conductor layer being surface conditioned to have a comparatively low work function value;
• and
• a second conductor layer formed of a second conductive material arranged such that a facing surface of the second conductor layer faces the facing surface of the first conductor layer with a gap formed between respective facing surfaces of the first conductor layer and the second conductor layer, the gap being in a range of 100 angstroms or less in thickness in a direction orthogonal to the respective facing surfaces, the facing surface of the second conductor having a work function value at least 1.0 eV higher than the comparatively low work function value of the facing surface of the first conductor layer,
• the energy harvesting component having a stacked configuration on the mounting surface totaling less than 100 μm thick,
• the energy harvesting component being electrically connected to the at least one electrically-energized device component, and
• the energy harvesting component being configured to generate an electric potential at any temperature above absolute zero for powering the at least one electrically-energized device component.