'Power Dressing' with the microfiber nanogenerator

A new method to recover otherwise-wasted energy and convert it into useful electrical power.

clipped from www.textually.org Nanowires allow 'power dressing' "Scientists in the US have developed novel brush-like fibres that generate electrical energy from movement. clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Weaving them into a material could allow designers to create "smart" clothes which harness body movement to power portable electronic gadgets. The ability to generate power for personal electronics using the clothing we wear would be a breakthrough in smart and interactive garments Dianne Jones clipped from www.gatech.edu Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Tech Regents’ Professor Zhong Lin Wang holds a prototype microfiber nanogenerator. (Georgia Tech Photo: Gary Meek) 300 dpi Hi-Res Version Microscope image shows the fibers that are part of the microfiber nanogenerator. The top one is coated with gold. (Image courtesy Zhong Lin Wang and Xudong Wang). 300 dpi Hi-Res Version Schematic shows how pairs of fibers would generate electrical current. 300 dpi Hi-Res Version

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New Nanowire batteries are ten times better

clipped from news-service.stanford.edu Stanford's nanowire battery holds 10 times the charge of existing ones Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices. The new version, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, a boon to ocean-hopping business travelers. Photos taken by a scanning electron microscope of silicon nanowires before (left) and after (right) absorbing lithium. Both photos were taken at the same magnification. "It's not a small improvement," Cui said. "It's a revolutionary development."

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