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Newest Nanogenerator is 100 Times More Powerful than Previous Version
New designs for nanoscale power generators could energize conventional electronic devices within 5 years by harvesting mechanical energy from their environment
Imagine if the mechanical energy embodied in your daily movements could be harvested and used to power your personal electronics, or environmental sensors or medical devices. What has previously seemed to be something out of a science fiction novel could be a reality in the next three to five years, thanks to recent innovations in nanogenerator design.
"We are interested in very small devices that can be used in applications such as health care, environmental monitoring and personal electronics. How to power these devices is a critical issue." - Zhong Lin Wang, Georgia Tech
A team of researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a simpler technique for fabricating piezoelectric nanowires, which was previously only used industrially, and is difficult because it requires temperatures of 650 degrees Celsius. The team's new technique used a process called hydrothermal decomposition in their research, which required a temperature of only 230 degrees C, making it much more attainable.
The researchers then built a composite material made out of multiple nanowire/polymer layers - "nanowire sandwiches". When flexed, these nanowire sandwiches – about two cm by 1.5 cm – generated enough electricity to power a display borrowed from a pocket calculator.
"By simplifying our design, making it more robust and integrating the contributions from many more nanowires, we have successfully boosted the output of our nanogenerator enough to drive devices such as commercial liquid-crystal displays, light-emitting diodes and laser diodes." - Wang
According to Wang, we are "within range" of practical implementation of these nanogenerators, and says, "I believe we will be able to power small systems in the near future. In the next five years, I hope to see this move into application.”
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