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Nanogenerator Provides Continuous Power By Harvesting Energy From The Environment
April 6, 2007 (Georgia Institute of Technology via Science Daily)

WHO
Zhong Lin Wang, Regents' Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, with group members Xudong Wang, Jinhui Song and Jin Liu, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Emory-Georgia Tech Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

WHAT
A nanometer-scale generator that harvests the mechanical energy of being flexed by things in its environment such as ultrasonic waves, mechanical vibration or blood flow and turns it into continuous direct-current electricity of as much as 4 watts per cubic centimeter, enough to power nanometer-scale defense, environmental and biomedical applications (biosensors, environmental monitors, nanoscale robots).

WHEN
Prototype reported in April 6 issue of “Science”; The concept was announced a year ago.

WHERE
Georgia Institute of Technology

WHY
- The real world why, from Wang: "If you had a device like this in your shoes when you walked, you would be able to generate your own small current to power small electronics," Wang noted. "Anything that makes the nanowires move within the generator can be used for generating power. Very little force is required to move them."
-The scientific why: The nanogenerators take advantage of the unique coupled piezoelectric and semiconducting properties of an array of vertically-aligned nanowires approximately a half-micron apart on gallium arsenide, sapphire or a flexible polymer substrate with a layer of zinc oxide grown on top to collect the current, which produce small electrical charges when they are flexed. Silicon "zig-zag" electrodes with thousands of nanometer-scale tips conductive from their platinum coating are lowered on the nanowire array. When any mechanical energy such as waves or vibration moves the nanowires, the tips transfer electrical charges, producing a DC current of nano-Amperes.

QUOTES
"Producing the top electrode as a single assembly sets the stage for scaling up this technology," Wang said. "We can now see the steps involved in moving forward to a device that can power real nanometer-scale applications…We need to be able to better control the growth, density and uniformity of the wires…We believe we can make as many as millions or even billions of nanowires produce current simultaneously. That will allow us to optimize operation of the nanogenerator."