New Nanotechnolgy Powered By Your Own Breath

When it comes to nanotechnology, the seemingly smallest motions can provide reliable and renewable energy. This is what is being discovered at the University of Wisconsin in Madison by Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Xudong Wang, postdoctoral Researcher Chengliang Sun and graduate student Jian Shi, who have created a plastic microbelt that vibrates in low-speed air movement, such as that of human respiration. But it not only vibrates--the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) used in the microbelt actually gathers an electric charge in response to this mechanical stress in what is known as the piezoelectric effect. This electric charge is sufficient enough to power tiny electric devices, the kind used in nanotechnology.


Read more: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/10/new-nanotechnolgy-powered-your-own-breath.php