Researchers have developed a metallic tab which, when connected to a human body, is capable of generating electricity from bending a finger and other simple movements.<\/p>\n
According to a research project led by the University at Buffalo, New York, and Institute of Semiconductors (IoP) at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), the tab \u2014 a triboelectric nanogenerator \u2014 can convert mechanical energy into electrical energy for electronic devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe human body is an abundant source of energy. We thought: \u2018Why not harness it to produce our own power?’\u201d said lead author Qiaoqiang Gan, associate professor at the University at Buffalo.<\/p>\n
The tab was detailed in the journal Nano Energy.<\/p>\n
Triboelectric charging occurs when certain materials become electrically charged after coming into contact with a different material. Most everyday static electricity is triboelectric.<\/p>\n
The tab consists of two thin layers of gold, with polydimethylsiloxane (also called PDMS \u2014 a silicon-based polymer used in contact lenses, Silly Putty and other products) sandwiched in between.<\/p>\n
One layer of gold is stretched, causing it to crumple upon release and create what looks like a miniature mountain range. When that force is reapplied, for example, from a finger bending, the motion leads to friction between the gold layers and PDMS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis causes electrons to flow back and forth between the gold layers. The more friction, the greater the amount of power is produced,\u201d said Yun Xu, professor at the IoP.<\/p>\n
The study described a small tab (1.5 centimetres long, by one centimetre wide).<\/p>\n
It delivered a maximum voltage of 124 volts, a maximum current of 10 microamps and a maximum power density of 0.22 millwatts per square centimetre.<\/p>\n
That is not enough to quickly charge a smartphone, but it lit 48 red LED lights simultaneously.<\/p>\n
The team is planning to use larger pieces of gold, which when stretched and folded together are expected to deliver even more electricity.<\/p>\n
The researchers are also working on developing a portable battery to store energy produced by the tab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers have developed a metallic tab which, when connected to a human body, is capable of generating electricity from bending a finger and other simple movements. According to a research project led by the University at Buffalo, New York, and Institute of Semiconductors (IoP) at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), the tab \u2014 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21801,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21799\/revisions\/21801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}