This electric generator is thin, transparent, lightweight and bendable.
“This material — just a single layer of atoms — could be made as a wearable device, perhaps integrated into clothing, to convert energy from your body movement to electricity and power wearable sensors or medical devices, or perhaps supply enough energy to charge your cell phone in your pocket,” says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia and co-leader of the research.
Store Wind Energy Underground
Hone and his team in collaboration with researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have shown for the first time that a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) creates electricity when it bends. This characteristic, called piezoelectricity, is known to exist in other materials, but until now, had not been shown in such thin material.
What’s interesting is that in bulk form, molybdenum disulfide is not piezoelectric. But the scientists had theorized last year that it could work.
To prove their theory, they put layers of thin flakes of MoS2 on a flexible substrate. They linked tiny electrodes to the flakes to measure an electric current. Next, they flexed the substrate and monitored the conversion of the mechanical energy into voltage.
They found that getting the best voltage requires an odd number of layers and flexing it in the correct direction. In the reverse direction, the charge disappeared.
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The science could lead to devices powered by the natural movements in the environment, whether they come from the wind blowing or a person walking.
The researchers published their results today in Nature.
Photo: Illustration shows positive and negative charges squeezed from a single layer of atoms of molybdenum disulfide, as it is being stretched.
Credit: Lei Wang/Columbia Engineering
“This material — just a single layer of atoms — could be made as a wearable device, perhaps integrated into clothing, to convert energy from your body movement to electricity and power wearable sensors or medical devices, or perhaps supply enough energy to charge your cell phone in your pocket,” says James Hone, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia and co-leader of the research.
Store Wind Energy Underground
Hone and his team in collaboration with researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have shown for the first time that a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) creates electricity when it bends. This characteristic, called piezoelectricity, is known to exist in other materials, but until now, had not been shown in such thin material.
What’s interesting is that in bulk form, molybdenum disulfide is not piezoelectric. But the scientists had theorized last year that it could work.
To prove their theory, they put layers of thin flakes of MoS2 on a flexible substrate. They linked tiny electrodes to the flakes to measure an electric current. Next, they flexed the substrate and monitored the conversion of the mechanical energy into voltage.
They found that getting the best voltage requires an odd number of layers and flexing it in the correct direction. In the reverse direction, the charge disappeared.
11 Bizarre Sources For Alternative Energy
The science could lead to devices powered by the natural movements in the environment, whether they come from the wind blowing or a person walking.
The researchers published their results today in Nature.
Photo: Illustration shows positive and negative charges squeezed from a single layer of atoms of molybdenum disulfide, as it is being stretched.
Credit: Lei Wang/Columbia Engineering
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