US researchers have created a nanofiber textile that harvests energy from movement, paving the way for clothing that could one day power an iPod or other wearable electronic devices, a study published on Wednesday said.
Using the same mechanical principle as a self-winding watch, but on scale measured in billionths of a meter, tiny nanogenerators can scavenge "wasted" energy from sound waves, vibrations, or even the human heart beat.
The fibers, developed by a team of scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology led by Zhong Lin Wang, are covered with pairs of zinc oxide nanowires that produce tiny pulses of electricity in response to friction.
"The two fibers scrub together just like two bottle brushes with their bristles touching," converting the mechanical motion into electrical energy, Wang said.
"Many of the devices could be put together to produce a higher output," he said.
This method of generating energy from friction is called the "piezoelectric effect."
The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibrations or other mechanical energy, said the study published in the UK journal Nature.
The human body contains many sources of energy that could drive nanogenerators, including blood flow pumped by the heart, exhalation from the lungs and walking.
Even the act of typing on a computer is a potential source of nano-scale energy.
Wang and his colleagues have made more than 200 of the mircroscopic nanogenerators. The fiber assemblies were each tested for 30 minutes to check durability and power production.
Other kinds of nanogenerators driven by scavenged energy aim to power biosensors to monitor a patient's glucose levels, strain sensors for bridges and environmental sensors to detect toxins.
There remains at least one significant problem before the nanofibers can become part of our daily wardrobes. Zinc oxide is sensitive to water, which means that clothes made from these fibers could never be washed, the study said.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS