- Report shows 3 million people affected by outages in 2016
- How to keep your mobile phone connected when the network is down
- How small can superconductors be?
- How Lean manufacturing saved an electronics company
THE FUTURE could see devices whose batteries last forever, recharged by the simplest actions of the user.
Coming from the labs of RMIT University in Melbourne is nano-research which characterises the ability of piezoelectric thin films, turning mechanical pressure into electricity.
The pioneering result was be published in the 21 June Issue of Advanced Functional Materials.
Lead co-author Dr Madhu Bhaskaran said the research combined the potential of piezoelectrics – materials capable of converting pressure into electrical energy – and the cornerstone of microchip manufacturing, thin film technology.
"The power of piezoelectrics could be integrated into running shoes to charge mobile phones, enable laptops to be powered through typing or even used to convert blood pressure into a power source for pacemakers – essentially creating an everlasting battery," she said.
While piezoelectric nanomaterials has been conceptually demonstrated for energy harvesting, the complexity of the structures involved meant they were not very promising candidates for mass production.
The researchers focused on thin film coatings since they had the best practical potential for integration into existing electronic technology.
The Australian Research Council-funded study assessed the energy generation capabilities of piezoelectric thin films at the nanoscale, for the first time precisely measuring the level of electrical voltage and current that could be generated.
The next step in research is finding ways to amplify the electrical energy generated by piezoelectric materials, so they can be integrated into electronic devices.