Journal ArticleDOI
Microfibre–nanowire hybrid structure for energy scavenging
TLDR
This work establishes a methodology for scavenging light-wind energy and body-movement energy using fabrics and presents a simple, low-cost approach that converts low-frequency vibration/friction energy into electricity using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires grown radially around textile fibres.Abstract:
Nanodevices don't use much energy, and if the little they do need can be scavenged from vibrations associated with foot steps, heart beats, noises and air flow, a whole range of applications in personal electronics, sensing and defence technologies opens up. Energy gathering of that type requires a technology that works at low frequency range (below 10 Hz), ideally based on soft, flexible materials. A group working at Georgia Institute of Technology has now come up with a system that converts low-frequency vibration/friction energy into electricity using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires grown radially around textile fibres. By entangling two fibres and brushing their associated nanowires together, mechanical energy is converted into electricity via a coupled piezoelectric-semiconductor process. This work shows a potential method for creating fabrics which scavenge energy from light winds and body movement. A self-powering nanosystem that harvests its operating energy from the environment is an attractive proposition for sensing, personal electronics and defence technologies1. This is in principle feasible for nanodevices owing to their extremely low power consumption2,3,4,5. Solar, thermal and mechanical (wind, friction, body movement) energies are common and may be scavenged from the environment, but the type of energy source to be chosen has to be decided on the basis of specific applications. Military sensing/surveillance node placement, for example, may involve difficult-to-reach locations, may need to be hidden, and may be in environments that are dusty, rainy, dark and/or in deep forest. In a moving vehicle or aeroplane, harvesting energy from a rotating tyre or wind blowing on the body is a possible choice to power wireless devices implanted in the surface of the vehicle. Nanowire nanogenerators built on hard substrates were demonstrated for harvesting local mechanical energy produced by high-frequency ultrasonic waves6,7. To harvest the energy from vibration or disturbance originating from footsteps, heartbeats, ambient noise and air flow, it is important to explore innovative technologies that work at low frequencies (such as <10 Hz) and that are based on flexible soft materials. Here we present a simple, low-cost approach that converts low-frequency vibration/friction energy into electricity using piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires grown radially around textile fibres. By entangling two fibres and brushing the nanowires rooted on them with respect to each other, mechanical energy is converted into electricity owing to a coupled piezoelectric–semiconductor process8,9. This work establishes a methodology for scavenging light-wind energy and body-movement energy using fabrics.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Ni1−xPtx (x=0–0.08) films as the photocathode of dye-sensitized solar cells with high efficiency
TL;DR: In this article, the Ni0.94Pt0.06 film was used as the photocathode for dye-sensitized solar cells and showed high catalytic performance toward triiodide reduction and high light reflectance.
Journal ArticleDOI
Soft capacitor fibers using conductive polymers for electronic textiles
TL;DR: In this article, a novel, highly flexible, conductive polymer-based fiber with high electric capacitance is reported, which is fabricated using the fiber drawing method, where a multi-material macroscopic preform is drawn into a sub-millimeter capacitor fiber in a single fabrication step.
Journal ArticleDOI
Recent progress in microstructure development of inorganic one-dimensional nanostructures for enhancing performance of piezotronics and piezoelectric nanogenerators
TL;DR: In this article, the authors systematically analyze the current developments in enhancing the performance of piezotronics and PENGs by microstructure modification of 1D nanostructures.
Journal ArticleDOI
Self-Healable Reprocessable Triboelectric Nanogenerators Fabricated with Vitrimeric Poly(hindered Urea) Networks
Twinkal Patel,Minsoo Kim,Junyoung Park,Tae Hee Lee,Pothanagandhi Nellepalli,Seung Man Noh,Hyun Wook Jung,Hyunhyub Ko,Jung Kwon Oh +8 more
TL;DR: The integration of mechanically strong and self-healable poly(hindered urea) (PHU) network in the fabrication of effective TENGs is demonstrated, presenting an avenue to the development of mechanical energy harvesting devices andSelf-powered sensors with excellent stretchability, high recoverability, and good mechanical strength.
Journal ArticleDOI
Recent Progress in the Energy Harvesting Technology-From Self-Powered Sensors to Self-Sustained IoT, and New Applications.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the evolution of energy harvesting technologies from fundamentals to various materials and discuss the current strategies for energy harvesting and sensing in smart homes, gas sensing, human monitoring, robotics, transportation, blue energy, aircraft, and aerospace.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays
TL;DR: This approach has the potential of converting mechanical, vibrational, and/or hydraulic energy into electricity for powering nanodevices.
Journal ArticleDOI
Ballistic carbon nanotube field-effect transistors
TL;DR: It is shown that contacting semiconducting single-walled nanotubes by palladium, a noble metal with high work function and good wetting interactions with nanotube, greatly reduces or eliminates the barriers for transport through the valence band of nanot tubes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Coaxial silicon nanowires as solar cells and nanoelectronic power sources
Bozhi Tian,Xiaolin Zheng,Thomas J. Kempa,Ying Fang,Nanfang Yu,Guihua Yu,Jinlin Huang,Charles M. Lieber +7 more
TL;DR: These coaxial silicon nanowire photovoltaic elements provide a new nanoscale test bed for studies of photoinduced energy/charge transport and artificial photosynthesis, and might find general usage as elements for powering ultralow-power electronics and diverse nanosystems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Energy scavenging for mobile and wireless electronics
Joseph A. Paradiso,Thad Starner +1 more
TL;DR: A whirlwind survey of energy harvesting can be found in this article, where the authors present a survey of recent advances in energy harvesting, spanning historic and current developments in sensor networks and mobile devices.
Journal ArticleDOI
Direct-current nanogenerator driven by ultrasonic waves
TL;DR: A nanowire nanogenerator that is driven by an ultrasonic wave to produce continuous direct-current output and offers a potential solution for powering nanodevices and nanosystems.