<div>Charging your smartphone with just a finger swipe may soon be possible, thanks to a new low-cost, film-like device that can harvest energy from human motion.<br /><br />Using the device, known as a nanogenerator, scientists successfully operated an LCD touch screen, a bank of 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard, all with a simple touching or pressing motion and without the aid of a battery.<br /><br />"We're on the path towards wearable devices powered by human motion," said Nelson Sepulveda, associate professor at Michigan State University in the US.<br /><br />"What I foresee, relatively soon, is the capability of not having to charge your cell phone for an entire week, for example, because that energy will be produced by your movement," said Sepulveda.<br /><br />The innovative process starts with a silicone wafer, which is then fabricated with several layers, or thin sheets, of environmentally friendly substances including silver, polyimide and polypropylene ferroelectret.<br /><br />Ions are added so that each layer in the device contains charged particles. Electrical energy is created when the device is compressed by human motion, or mechanical energy.<br /><br />The completed device is called a biocompatible ferroelectret nanogenerator, or FENG.<br /><br />The device is as thin as a sheet of paper and can be adapted to many applications and sizes.<br /><br />The device used to power the LED lights was palm-sized, for example, while the device used to power the touch screen was as small as a finger.<br /><br />Advantages such as being lightweight, flexible, biocompatible, scalable, low-cost and robust could make FENG "a promising and alternative method in the field of mechanical-energy harvesting" for many autonomous electronics such as wireless headsets, cell phones and other touch-screen devices, according to the study.<br /><br />Remarkably, the device also becomes more powerful when folded.<br /><br />"Each time you fold it you are increasing exponentially the amount of voltage you are creating," Sepulveda said.<br /><br />"You can start with a large device, but when you fold it once, and again, and again, it's now much smaller and has more energy," he said.<br /><br />"Now it may be small enough to put in a specially made heel of your shoe so it creates power each time your heel strikes the ground," he said.<br /><br />Researchers are developing technology that would transmit the power generated from the heel strike to, say, a wireless headset.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Nano Energy.</div>
<div>Charging your smartphone with just a finger swipe may soon be possible, thanks to a new low-cost, film-like device that can harvest energy from human motion.<br /><br />Using the device, known as a nanogenerator, scientists successfully operated an LCD touch screen, a bank of 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard, all with a simple touching or pressing motion and without the aid of a battery.<br /><br />"We're on the path towards wearable devices powered by human motion," said Nelson Sepulveda, associate professor at Michigan State University in the US.<br /><br />"What I foresee, relatively soon, is the capability of not having to charge your cell phone for an entire week, for example, because that energy will be produced by your movement," said Sepulveda.<br /><br />The innovative process starts with a silicone wafer, which is then fabricated with several layers, or thin sheets, of environmentally friendly substances including silver, polyimide and polypropylene ferroelectret.<br /><br />Ions are added so that each layer in the device contains charged particles. Electrical energy is created when the device is compressed by human motion, or mechanical energy.<br /><br />The completed device is called a biocompatible ferroelectret nanogenerator, or FENG.<br /><br />The device is as thin as a sheet of paper and can be adapted to many applications and sizes.<br /><br />The device used to power the LED lights was palm-sized, for example, while the device used to power the touch screen was as small as a finger.<br /><br />Advantages such as being lightweight, flexible, biocompatible, scalable, low-cost and robust could make FENG "a promising and alternative method in the field of mechanical-energy harvesting" for many autonomous electronics such as wireless headsets, cell phones and other touch-screen devices, according to the study.<br /><br />Remarkably, the device also becomes more powerful when folded.<br /><br />"Each time you fold it you are increasing exponentially the amount of voltage you are creating," Sepulveda said.<br /><br />"You can start with a large device, but when you fold it once, and again, and again, it's now much smaller and has more energy," he said.<br /><br />"Now it may be small enough to put in a specially made heel of your shoe so it creates power each time your heel strikes the ground," he said.<br /><br />Researchers are developing technology that would transmit the power generated from the heel strike to, say, a wireless headset.<br /><br />The study was published in the journal Nano Energy.</div>