Harvesting hamsters for PDAs

Researchers at the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering in Atlanta have demonstrated ways to harvest energy from irregular biomechanical activity. Using nanogenerators, a team supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force, and the Emory-Georgia Tech Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, were able to generate energy by tapping on a Blackberry’s keys and having a hamster run in a wheel.

Wearing a jacket on which nanogenerators are attached, a hamster produces power when it runs and scratches. (Photo courtesy of Zhong Lin Wang)

Power is produced piezoelectrically by 100 to 500-μm-long zinc oxide wires 100 to 800 nm in diameter. The wires are encapsulated in a flexible polymer substrate and anchored at each end by an electrical contact, with a Shottky Barrier at one end to control current flow. In tests, a single-wire generator was connected to the joint area of an index finger, or four single-wire devices were combined on a jacket worn by the hamster.

Regent’s professor Zhong Lin Wang who led the research team notes, “This technology can convert any mechanical disturbance into electrical energy.” Thus he suggests it could even be implanted into the body to harvest energy from, say, muscle movements or pulsating blood vessels. For more information, call Wang at 404-894-8008 or e-mail zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.

Richard Comerford