(Image source: Georgia Tech)
BY STEVEN SPARKMAN
ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO
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Tired of plugging in your mobile devices? Try charging them while you walk. Scientists from Georgia Tech have created what they call the first commercially viable nanogenerator. It’s a chip that uses your body as a power source.
“Hailed as a milestone, the tiny chip works by using zinc oxide nanowires so small that 500 could fit in a human hair. When they are strained or flexed, electricity is produced -- meaning any body movement from the pinch of a finger to a beating heart can generate power.”
The researchers say this is the first of these generators that can deliver a high enough charge to power electronics. Lead researcher Z.L. Wang demonstrated to the American Chemical Society how the device produces as much electricity as a pair of AA batteries.
“The major breakthrough we have made in last year is to boost up the power output. … So that means we have ten microwatts of energy output. How do we do this? It’s just any mechanical flicking like this. There’s two volts come off that.”
The technology is so adaptable, it can be used practically anywhere. Wang said they’ve already experimented with lining a car tire with the devices. But Geek.com explains the use that’s getting tech addicts really excited: no more plugging in.
“In principal, the nanowires are small enough to sew or embed into pretty much everything. … So if they were embedded in your pants, every step you take would generate a charge of electricity that could be funneled into an iPod or a battery pack… Pretty neat, huh? We’ll all be walking portable gadget chargers before we even know it.”
If that’s not sci-fi enough for you, there’s even talk of using the human heartbeat to generate power. Tech bloggers are dreaming of heart-powered phones, but a writer for Register Hardware says it’s probably premature to line up for the iPulse.
“Of course, actually implementing these devices as coronary iPod chargers isn't a top priority, but Wang's idea of a heart powered nano chip to run an implanted insulin pump is a more serious suggestion likely to get medical attention.”
Wang says he hopes to bring the chips to the market in three to five years, ready to be put into shoes, tires, train tracks... Where else could they go?
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