Science Daily introduces a new way to recharge your battery – take this flexible, biodegradable device and power it up by touching it:
Many people may not realize it, but the movements we often take for granted — such as walking and tapping on our keyboards — release energy that largely dissipates, unused. Several years ago, scientists figured out how to capture some of that energy and convert it into electricity so we might one day use it to power our mobile gadgetry.
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The researchers built a nanogenerator using a flexible, biocompatible polymer film made out of polyvinylidene fluoride, or PVDF. To improve the material’s energy-harvesting ability, they added DNA, which has good electrical properties and is biocompatible and biodegradable. Their device was powered with gentle tapping, and it lit up 22 to 55 light-emitting diodes.
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Video at the link. (Kind of unintentionally funny – it’s more “spanking” than “tapping” at this point. But the technology is still pretty amazing.)