New Technology Charges Mobile Phones With Sound
- 10 years ago
Nokia and researchers at Queen Mary University of London have developed a way for everyday noises, such as traffic and talking, to be used to charge a mobile phone.
Imagine never needing a cord and an outlet to charge your smartphone again.
Nokia and researchers from Queen Mary University of London known have teamed up to develop technology that can charge mobile phones through sound.
Dr. Joe Briscoe and Dr. Steve Dunn want to turn those vibrations caused by everyday noises into electrical energy for smartphones.
To do this, they developed a nanogenerator prototype, which harvests energy.
They created the nanogenerator from a material called Zinc Oxide that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. By breaking the material down to nano level, energy is more easily gathered from vibration and movement. They manipulated the Zinc Oxide into nanorods and nanowires that when squashed create a voltage.
The nanorods are used to coat various surfaces, and respond to everyday sound by harvesting the voltage produced.
The prototype ended up being the same size as a Nokia Lumina 925, and was able to generate the same amount of voltage needed to charge a phone.
Dr. Briscoe said, "Being able to keep mobile devices working for longer, or do away with batteries completely by tapping into the stray energy that is all around us is an exciting concept...We hope that we have brought this technology closer to viability."
Imagine never needing a cord and an outlet to charge your smartphone again.
Nokia and researchers from Queen Mary University of London known have teamed up to develop technology that can charge mobile phones through sound.
Dr. Joe Briscoe and Dr. Steve Dunn want to turn those vibrations caused by everyday noises into electrical energy for smartphones.
To do this, they developed a nanogenerator prototype, which harvests energy.
They created the nanogenerator from a material called Zinc Oxide that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. By breaking the material down to nano level, energy is more easily gathered from vibration and movement. They manipulated the Zinc Oxide into nanorods and nanowires that when squashed create a voltage.
The nanorods are used to coat various surfaces, and respond to everyday sound by harvesting the voltage produced.
The prototype ended up being the same size as a Nokia Lumina 925, and was able to generate the same amount of voltage needed to charge a phone.
Dr. Briscoe said, "Being able to keep mobile devices working for longer, or do away with batteries completely by tapping into the stray energy that is all around us is an exciting concept...We hope that we have brought this technology closer to viability."