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
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Journal ArticleDOI
In-Suspension Growth of ZnO Nanorods with Tunable Length and Diameter Using Polymorphic Seeds
TL;DR: Rod-like ZnO nanostructures are of particular interest in numerous fields spanning from catalysis to optoelectronics as discussed by the authors, where they find application in various fields.
Journal ArticleDOI
Size- and orientation-selective si nanowire growth: thermokinetic effects of nanoscale plasma chemistry.
Hamid Mehdipour,Kostya Ostrikov +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a multiscale, multiphase thermokinetic model is used to show the effective control of the growth orientation of thin Si NWs for nanoelectronic devices enabled by nanoscale plasma chemistry.
Journal ArticleDOI
Piezoelectric Fibers: Processing and Challenges.
Sarah Scheffler,Philippe Poulin +1 more
TL;DR: In this article , a review of the processing techniques and their specific limitations and advantages to realize single-component or coaxial piezofibers is presented, and the electromechanical properties of these fibers processed by different manufacturing techniques are compared.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Jahn-Teller Effect for Amorphization of Molybdenum Trioxide towards High-Performance Fiber Supercapacitor.
Chenyang Yu,Hai Xu,Yujiao Gong,Ruyi Chen,Zengyu Hui,Xi Zhao,Yue Sun,Qiang Chen,Jinyuan Zhou,Wenxin Ji,Gengzhi Sun,Gengzhi Sun,Wei Huang,Wei Huang +13 more
TL;DR: In this article, high capacitive fiber electrodes embedded with nanosized amorphous molybdenum trioxide (A-MoO3-x) featuring an average particle diameter of ~20nm and rich oxygen vacancies are obtained via a top-down method using α-moO3 bulk belts as the precursors.
Book ChapterDOI
Waste Mechanical Energy Harvesting (II): Nanopiezoelectric Effect
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors classified the mechanical energy as low-level vibrations and movements, and summarized the potential low level vibrations and movement in terms of their potential energy sources, such as a vibrating structure, a moving object and vibration induced by flowing air or water.
References
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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.