Generate Power on a Walk around the Block

Power Generating Fabric Bristles

What happens when your walking to class and your ipod and cellphone dies?  How will you get enough battery life to call your mom back? What if you could plug your ipod or cellphone directly into your jacket or jeans. With microscopic bristles rubbing against one another with every heartbeat, every step, and every handshake you could become a walking power generator.

Georgia Tech developed the technology. The bristles are coated with zinc oxide nanowires that convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. A square meter of this fabric could give your ipod the battery it needs to finish that playlist or give your cell the boost to finish the call, roughly 80 kilowatts of power.

“The two fibers scrub together just like two bottle brushes with their bristles touching, and the piezoelectric-semiconductor process converts the mechanical motion into electrical energy,” Said Professor Zhong Lin Wang who is overseeing the development of this technology at Georgia Tech.

The material could also be used in tents, curtains, awnings, umbrellas or anything else that is subject to mechanical movement by way of body, wind, or other.

We may very soon be on the verge of developing energy wherever we go. I have covered numerous innovations such as sweet and simple as this one. Combined, all of these technologies could be used to create a truly sustainable utopia. Have hope for the future.

Sources:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Nanotech/20278/

http://medgadget.com/archives/2008/02/electricity_generating_fabric.html