Triboelectric nanogenerators tagged posts

Scientists have used a compound made from a starch derivative and baking soda to help convert mechanical to electrical energy. The approach, developed by scientists at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Technology (DGIST), with colleagues in Korea and India, is cost-effective and biocompatible, and can help charge low-energy electronics like calculators and watches. The details were published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

“Triboelectric nanogenerators harvest mechanical energy and convert it into an electric current,” explains DGIST robotics engineer Hoe Joon Kim...

A piece of fabric was woven with special strands of material that harvest electricity from the sun and motion. Credit: Georgia Tech

Georgia Institute of Tech researchers have developed a fabric that can simultaneously harvest energy from both sunshine and motion. Combining two types of electricity generation into one textile paves the way for developing garments that could provide their own source of energy to power devices such as smart phones or GPS. “This hybrid power textile presents a novel solution to charging devices in the field from something as simple as the wind blowing on a sunny day,” said Prof. Zhong Lin Wang.

To make the fabric, Wang’s team used a commercial textile machine to weave together solar cells constructed from lightweight polymer fibers with fiber-based triboelectr...