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Power from Fabrics
In the future it might not be necassary to buy or load batteries fot your small electrical appliances. The energy could be harvested form clothes.
Georgia Tech researchers have taken an important step toward creating fabrics that could generate power from the wearer's walking, breathing, and heartbeats. The researchers have made a flexible fiber coated with zinc oxide nanowires that can convert mechanical energy into electricity. The fibers, the researchers say, should be able to harvest any kind of vibration or motion for electric current.
The zinc oxide nanowires grow vertically from the surface of the polymer fiber. When one fiber brushes against another, the nanowires flex and generate electric current.
By the researchers' calculations, a square meter of fabric made from the fibers could put out as much as 80 milliwatts-enough to power portable electronics. The development could make shirts and shoes that power iPods and medical implants, curtains that generate power when they flap in the wind, and tents that power portable electronics devices.
The flexibility of the fibers brings the idea of wearable, foldable energy sources closer to fruition. The flexibility is also crucial for harvesting energy from extremely small ambient motion.
Patel-Predd, Prachi MIT Technology Review February 14, 2008 http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/20278
Opportunity: batteries for small electronic become obsolete
Threat: none
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