Nanotechnology to help create everlasting battery

If the ability to create an everlasting battery is achieved, it will be nothing short of a miracle. And while the technologists all the over the world are busy conducting experiments on the project, a study published in the June 21 issue of Advanced Functional Materials on self-powering batteries has created ripples in the labs across the globe. The study is based on a research conducted by researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne.

The pioneering effort involved the combination of two technologies, i.e., piezoelectrics and thin film technology. Piezoelectic is a substance that can convert the applied pressure into electricity. Thin film is used because it is the most important and basic constituent in microchip technology. Today what carbon molecules are to the human body, microchips are to the electronics. In other words, the integration of these two technologies can result in the charging of microchips by only applying pressure. According to Dr. Madhu Bhaskaran, lead co-author of the study,

Our study focused on thin film coatings because we believe they hold the only practical possibility of integrating piezoelectrics into existing electronic technology. The power of piezoelectrics could be integrated into running shoes to charge mobile phones, enable laptops to be powered through typing or even used to convert blood pressure into a power source for pacemakers - essentially creating an everlasting battery.

Dr. Bhaskaran teamed up with fellow researcher Dr. Sharath Sriram for the study which has been funded by The Australian Research Council. Both are part of the RMIT's Microplatforms Research Group, which is headed by Professor Arnan Mitchell. The breakthrough achieved in the research was in the fact that the group was able to measure exact voltage and current generated by application of pressure on piezoelectric thin films. The amount of electricity generated was on a nanoscale. In current environment, constant access to a charging source is a must for electronic devices to function. Once the technology of portable everlasting batteries is developed enough to be utilized in gadgets, world will wake up to a new era of technological advancement.

via: Physorg