Scientists build prototype 'nanogenerator'

U.S. engineers have built a prototype nanogenerator that can produce continuous direct-current electricity from such sources as blood flow or vibration.

Georgia Institute of Technology researchers said their nanometer-scale generator is based on arrays of vertically aligned zinc oxide nanowires that move inside a zigzag plate electrode.

The scientists, led by Professor Zhong Lin Want, said nanogenerators could provide a new way to power nanoscale devices without batteries or other external power sources.

This is a major step toward a portable, adaptable and cost-effective technology for powering nanoscale devices, said Wang. There has been a lot of interest in making nanodevices but we have tended not to think about how to power them. Our nanogenerator allows us to harvest or recycle energy from many sources to power these devices.

For example, he said a person with a nanogenerator in his or her shoes would be able to generate a current to power small electronics while walking.

Anything that makes the nanowires move within the generator can be used for generating power, added Wang. Very little force is required to move them.

The research appears in the April 6 issue of the journal Science.

(UPI)

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