Chinese Scientists Find Alternative to Lead-Containing Mainstream Piezoelectric Material
You probably learned in high school what the piezoelectric effect is: a phenomenon where an electromotive force is generated by applying mechanical stress to...
Nanotech Hybrid Solar Cell Generates Electricity from Both Light and Sound
A new nanotech hybrid solar cell developed by Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, generates electricity from light as...
Smaller is Better – Understanding Pyroelectric Nanomaterials
Does size matter? Most people will say yes, and affirm that bigger is better. On the other hand, sometimes smaller can be better, as...
Stony Brook Gets Award for Piezoelectric Railroad Energy Harvestor
Engineers at Stony Brook University in New York have won a national award for developing an energy harvestor that significantly reduces railroads’ carbon dioxide...
Harvesting Energy From Small Vibrations for Use in Pacemakers and Implants
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.
Highways in California Could Actually Produce Energy
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.
New MEMS Element Transforms Vibration Into 85μW of Electricity
Two Europe based research institutes (IMEC and TNO), have developed a new MEMS element capable of converting vibration energy into electric power.
Wet-Powered Thin Film Generates Electricity
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...
Skin-Like Piezoelectric Device Could Save Thousands of Dollars by Replacing Batteries
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.
Shoe-Embedded Flexible Polymer That Can Power Your Small Devices
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.
