Researchers have developed a triboelectric generator that collects energy from stop-start movements.
Researchers from Georgia Tech and Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a triboelectric generator that can harvest energy from ambient motions.
The research team, led by material science and engineering professor Zhong Lin Wang, built a hand-sized prototype device that can harvest energy from stop-start movements like walking, flowing water, gentle winds blowing, and even body movements.
The device creates electricity from the static produced by the friction between a rotating disc rubbing against a stationary one. This process of generating static is called the triboelectric effect, which is the same effect that happens when a person shuffling their shoes on a nylon floor receives a shock when he or she touches an object.
The prototype device the team built was able to recharge a smartphone and power up LED lights, a digital alarm clock and a wireless transmitter. In their research the team described how the generator can be developed with low-cost materials and on a larger scale.
A paper on the study was recently published on the journal Nature Communications.