Piezoelectric Archives – The Green Optimistic

How to Build a DIY Aeroelastic Flutter Energy Harvester

Arsenij Percov — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 19:37:53 +0000

Aeroelastic flutter is the back and forth motion of an object caused by the air flow. An example is the shaking of a plane’s wings during turbulence. This phenomenon has been used by Instructables user DylanD581 to produce electricity and is even more effective than a wind turbine in low winds. Wind turbines only work […]

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Single Molecule Piezoelectricity Opens New Opportunities for Nanodevices

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 07:12:06 +0000

Piezoelectricity – the principle behind a quartz watch, voice recognition software, microphones, etc. – is the conversion of mechanical energy into electricity and vice versa. Discovered by Jacques and Pierre Curie in 1880, the piezoelectric effect was first observed when they applied pressure to a quartz crystal, which generated electric charges. This effect was called […]

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Teenager Develops $5 Device to Harness Wind and Solar Power

Mila Luleva — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 13:06:21 +0000

Thirteen years old Maanasa Mendu developed a $5-wind and solar hybrid system to generate renewable energy. Teenagers often manage to amaze us with their forward thinking and incredible creativity. The inventions that they come up with can easily overtake those designed by the greatest of engineers. This is especially the case when we look at […]

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Artificial Trees from OSU Harness Energy from Vibrations

Mila Luleva — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 06:46:50 +0000

Artificial trees, inspired by nature, harness the energy of surrounding vibrations- from traffic to earthquakes. Over the recent years we have covered quite a number of nature-inspired technologies that are truly fascinating. Yes, often they seem to be slightly far-fetched, and probably not so feasible and viable, but they are very often inspirational. New technologies should […]

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Ironman’s Heart is Closer to Reality than you Think

Ari Luis — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 04:24:16 +0000

The semi-official name of the blue thing on Tony Stark’s chest is the Repulsor Tech node. And it’s more of science fact than fiction – nuclear batteries have been around for decades! Nope, these babies aren’t nuclear reactors like those in Fukushima and Chernobyl, rather they are real batteries that rely on radioactive decay of […]

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Chin Strap Harvests Energy From Chewing To Power Wearable Gadgets

Mila Luleva — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 06:25:32 +0000

Harnessing energy from body movement has gained quite a bit of attention over the past years. Various technologies have been proposed that can turn the energy we constantly generate into a mean to charge electronic devices, however nothing is like the invention that a Canadian team developed. They made a strap that turns energy from […]

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Nanogenerator Could Make for Self-Charging Smartphones

Benji Jerew — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 15:01:13 +0000

Chances are, there are a couple places your smartphone might be, either in your pocket or purse, or on your desk. Today’s smartphones are more power-hungry than ever, and our desire for connectivity is energy-intensive. At home or at the office, you’re more likely to have your smartphone in a charging dock to keep it […]

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New Aluminum Nitrate-Based Device Converts Low-Frequency Vibrations to Electricity

Mila Luleva — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:28:53 +0000

A team of scientists from the Institute of Microelectronics at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) claim to have found the source of infinite power for all small electronic devices. The guys figured that harnessing the energy from low frequency vibrations can completely eliminate the need of manual re-charging of future electronics in […]

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Two Devices That Can Solar Power Your iPhone While You Walk or Listen to Music

Mila Luleva — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 11:32:35 +0000

Charging a mobile device using flexible solar cells fitted in headphones, or a shoe insole that harnesses energy generated by walking, could soon be possible, as the crowdfunding website Kickstarter showcases some of the coolest innovation technologies seeking funding. Solar powered headphones were created by Andrew Anderson, a Glasgow designer. He hopes that he will […]

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Nanotech Hybrid Solar Cell Generates Electricity from Both Light and Sound

Benji Jerew — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:09:41 +0000

A new nanotech hybrid solar cell developed by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, generates electricity from light as well as from sound. “The best of both worlds” is a common term when it comes to combining two different technologies, such as electric motors and gasoline engines in hybrid vehicles. […]

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Wet-Powered Thin Film Generates Electricity

Benji Jerew — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:57:59 +0000

Given the right circumstances, we’ve probably all seen a piece of paper curl up when wet. Could this motion be put to work, that is, generate electricity? Scientists have noticed this wet curling effect in various polymers, but never something that could be said to perform work, such as with polypyrrole. Robert Langer at Massachusetts […]

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Smaller is Better – Understanding Pyroelectric Nanomaterials

Benji Jerew — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 17:29:25 +0000

Does size matter? Most people will say yes, and affirm that bigger is better. On the other hand, sometimes smaller can be better, as we recently discussed using superconductors to reduce the size and increase the power of wind generators. Piezo- and pyroelectrical materials, such as PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 [PZT], have properties that are well-known and demonstrated […]

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GE’s Ultra-Thin Piezo Technology Used to Cool Future Laptops and Tablets

Benji Jerew — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 17:04:37 +0000

As electronics get smaller, faster, and more powerful, the devices we count on in our everyday connected lives tend to get hotter, requiring some kind of cooling device. Laptops have enough room for a fan to extract heat from the CPU and memory modules, but sometimes these can become noisy. Additionally, fans take up a […]

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Stony Brook Gets Award for Piezoelectric Railroad Energy Harvestor

Leigh Hutchens — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 07:38:54 +0000

Engineers at Stony Brook University in New York have won a national award for developing an energy harvestor that significantly reduces railroads’ carbon dioxide emissions. The harvestor may even save $10 million in New York trackside power supply costs and has the potential to reduce carbon dioxide by 3000 tons per year, equating to a […]

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10 Ideas to Generate Green Energy

Mila Luleva — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 22:00:05 +0000

We keep publishing stories on how to generate renewable energy, which tell us about investments worth millions. Scientific research, energy companies as well as governmental institutions come up with great solutions at very large scales. Of course, the materializing of all these projects and discussions might take a while, so let’s look into some interesting […]

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Self-Charging Battery Transforms Vibrations Directly Into Chemical Energy

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 19:24:26 +0000

A research team and the Georgia Institute of Technology has invented a lithium ion battery that charges itself by using the environment vibrations. Unlike other similar devices, this one is highly efficient, because it converts mechanical energy to chemical energy directly, without using electricity as a middleman. A piezoelectric membrane is at the Lithium Cobalt […]

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Alternating Current from Friction With Triboelectric Nanogenerators

Maria Reyes — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 19:24:51 +0000

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a way to produce electricity from random mechanical motion using triboelectric nanogenerators. These are devices fabricated from flexible polymeric materials with a high degree of transparency. Rubbing the surface of these devices can generate alternating current from friction. The research was published in the June issue of […]

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Nanocomposite Materials Make Up New Cheap Piezoelectric Harvester

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:37:03 +0000

A new large-area piezoelectric nanogenerator technology has been developed by a team of scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. The new technology uses piezoelectric ceramic nanoparticles and overcome limitations of previous piezoelectric materials. Led by Prof. Keon Jae Lee, the team set itself the goal to build a simple and low-cost […]

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Chinese Scientists Find Alternative to Lead-Containing Mainstream Piezoelectric Material

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:57:43 +0000

You probably learned in high school what the piezoelectric effect is: a phenomenon where an electromotive force is generated by applying mechanical stress to a material. So far, piezoelectric devices used a material called lead zirconate titanate (PZT). However, PZT is expensive and contains lead, which is bad for the environment. Progress does happen, though, […]

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New Discovery Makes Piezoelectric Materials 25% More Efficient

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:31:40 +0000

A new project at National Physical Laboratory in the UK aims to develop a much more efficient piezoelectric energy harvester. They found a serious glitch in current piezo devices that keeps them from giving their best at converting mechanical stress to electricity. Despite the fact that the powers outputted by piezoelectric devices are small (per […]

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Pavegen's Tiles Harvest Kinetic Energy Every Time Users Step on Them

Mike Sandru — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:41:36 +0000

Kembell-Cook, the director of Pavegen Systems has come up with a new way to produce clean electricity from pedestrian traffic. The Pavegen tiles are expected to harvest energy from footsteps. They are perfect for cities where there are high foot-traffic areas. The operating mechanism is as follows: the tiles convert the kinetic energy from the […]

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New Piezoelectric Device Generates Energy From Human Respiration

Mike Sandru — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:42:21 +0000

Graduate Student Jian Shi and Engineering Assistant Professor Xudong Wang at the University of Wisconsin-Madison came up with a new device that is able to convert small amounts of mechanical energy into electricity. In other words, the device could be used to capture energy from respiration. The secret of this innovation is the plastic microbelt […]

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Piezo-Photovoltaic Device Creates Electricity From Wind/Rain/Sun

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:07:42 +0000

A new device that harvests energy from raindrops, winds or sunlight has been invented at the Institute for Materials Research and Innovation at the University of Bolton, UK. Elias Siores led a team who created a special polymer with piezoelectric and photosensitive properties.

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Yell at Your Phone to Charge It: New Piezoelectric Device Could Help You

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:41:20 +0000

Imagine that one day you could charge your mobile phone or other low-consumption devices just by placing them in noisy areas or by yelling at them. South-Korean scientists from the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, are now studying a type of zinc oxide-based device that could do just that.

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Highways in California Could Actually Produce Energy

Mike Sandru — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:05:50 +0000

When cars or trains move on the surface of the earth, they produce vibrations. These vibrations can be captured and directed through underground piezoelectric materials to a smart grid or roadside batteries.

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Skin-Like Piezoelectric Device Could Save Thousands of Dollars by Replacing Batteries

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:50:00 +0000

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame in the US have designed a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) piezoelectric device that resembles skin (they called it the EH skin) and that can harness energy from the mechanical work applied to it. The new device can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from wireless sensor units to patches that get energy from vibrations and pass it on to the grid. The sample they tested got as much as 3.7 mW.

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New Bill Could Allow California to Harness Power Otherwise Lost as Cars Travel Over Pavement

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 21:01:49 +0000

We've been presenting over time how piezoelectric devices could harness energy from different sources, and I think we were right supporting this technology. The following is a Press Release sent to us by California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, who proposed a new bill that will implement piezoelectric technology already in use in Italy and Israel to harness energy from road vibrations.

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Cornell Students Harnessing Wind Vibrations to Produce Free Electricity

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 20:41:11 +0000

A group of undergraduate students at Cornell University has conceived a device that can harness wind-induced vibrations into electricity through the piezoelectric effect. The Vibro-Wind Research Group is led by Frank Moon, Joseph Ford Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

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Innowattech Applying Piezoelectric Technology To Railroad Tracks For Electricity Generation

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:17:49 +0000

After modifying Israeli highways to produce energy from piezoelectric pads installed beneath the asphalt, Innowattech, an Israel-based company, now applied their technology on railroads.

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A Step Ahead For Zinc Oxide Piezoelectrics: Over 20 Times Power Improvement

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:01:09 +0000

Piezoelectrics are a class of materials that, if applied a mechanical force, exert an electric current on the sides. You may already have knowledge about this, but researchers are studying how to take piezoelectric materials to the next step.

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Scientists Create Photovoltaic-Piezoelectric Fiber To Power Gadgets With Light & Motion

Mike Sandru — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:30:35 +0000

A group of researchers at the University of Bolton have created a new piezoelectric-photovoltaic fiber that has the possibility to be implemented into different gadgets to power them using light and motion.

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Louisiana Professor Uses Piezoelectric Material and Carbon Nanotubes to Recover Lost Heat

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:53:49 +0000

A Louisiana Tech University professor, dr. Long Que, has designed and prototyped a composite material that converts heat into electricity by using simple physical mechanisms found in piezoelectric materials and carbon nanotubes.

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PZT Nanofibers Piezoelectric Generator Producing 1.6V Unveiled by SIT Scientist

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:25:39 +0000

Dr. Yong Shi, from Stevens Institute of Technology has released a paper called "1.6 V Nanogenerator for Mechanical Energy Harvesting Using PZT Nanofibers." He uses piezoelectric nanowire- and nanofiber-based generators that can convert mechanical energy into electricity.

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Piezo Shower: Newly Invented Piezoelectric Nanowires Used to Heat Water Through Friction

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:47:09 +0000

The water that you unleash when you take a shower (with the "hot" knob closed) has two properties: pressure and temperature. You can change pressure, but to raise its temperature you usually need extra energy. Regularly, you don't shower with the water knob turned to the maximum, so a certain extra pressure exists in the tubing, creating friction.

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Shoe-Embedded Flexible Polymer That Can Power Your Small Devices

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:40:31 +0000

Dr. Ville Kaajakari, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University has devised a small power generator that can be embedded in the sole of a shoe, to juice any kind of low-power device.

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Harvesting Energy From Small Vibrations for Use in Pacemakers and Implants

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:15:50 +0000

University of Michigan researchers, at their Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems, have just created highly efficient some energy-harvesting devices that use the energy from surrounding arbitrary, non-periodic vibrations.

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Zinc Oxide Crystal Acting as Piezoelectric Material To Get Hydrogen From Water

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:18:51 +0000

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have just discovered that crystals of zinc oxide, if submerged, absorb its vibrations and act like a piezoelectric material, developing areas of strong negative and positive charges.

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New Piezoelectric Flexible Nanoribbons Prove 80% Efficient Conversion

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:32:00 +0000

Pacemaker owners all over the world and other people in need of a reliable, small current source will surely be glad when they'll hear that Princeton University scientists have developed an ultra-efficient (80%) piezoelectric system, able to transform mechanical work into electricity.

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Micro-Scaled Piezoelectric Device Harvests Electricity from Vibrations

Mike Sandru — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:24:33 +0000

The world we live is full of f vibrating surfaces like train stations, dance floors and highways that that could yield a rich trove of clean, eco-friendly energy. It is called piezoelectric energy, formed by the conversion of mechanical strain into electricity.

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Energy-Harvesting "Piezo-tree" to Produce Renewable Energy

Mike Sandru — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:26:56 +0000

A team of scientists at the Cornell University have developed an energy harvesting "piezo-tree" that uses the flittering of leaves connected to a piezoelectric stem to generate electric energy.

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New MEMS Element Transforms Vibration Into 85μW of Electricity

Cristi — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:11:42 +0000

Two Europe based research institutes (IMEC and TNO), have developed a new MEMS element capable of converting vibration energy into electric power.

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Proof-of-Concept Piezoelectric Generators Used to Recover Energy from Wind

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:48:03 +0000

City College of New York researchers, led by professor Yiannis Andreopoulos, are studying how to incorporate piezoelectric electricity generators into cars and planes, so they can convert the kinetic energy of motion into electricity.

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Bismuth-Ferrite Piezoelectric Material Opens New Roads for Energy Generation

Mike Sandru — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:32:58 +0000

Researchers at the UC Berkeley and the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Lab have developed a new lead-free material that generates electricity when exposed to stress. One day, this phenomenon called piezoelectricity could become as common as backyard grills.

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Israel Highway Equipped With Pilot Piezoelectric Generator System

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:18:16 +0000

Yesterday morning, the Hefer intersection along the old coastal road of Route 4 in Israel was the place where a piezoelectric generator was put to the test and generated some 2,000 watt-hours of electricity. The setup consists of a ten-meter strip of asphalt, with generators lying underneath, and batteries in the road's proximity.

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400 kW Piezoelectric Energy Recovery System Under Israel's Highways

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:17:19 +0000

When I was like 12, I did an interesting experiment: I connected a piezoelectric cigarette lighter to a halogen lamp based voltmeter measuring up to 3000V. The short spark easily raised the voltage above that figure. Of course, the current is very small, but the voltage is high - to the degree of about several tens of thousands volts.

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