Unhappy with the life of your smartphone battery?
Thought so.
Help could be on the way from one of the most common, yet poorly understood, forms of power generation: static electricity.
“Nearly everyone has zapped their finger on a doorknob or seen child’s hair stick to a balloon. To incorporate this energy into our electronics, we must better understand the driving forces behind it,” says James Chen, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University at Buffalo.
Chen is a co-author of a study in the December issue of the Journal of Electrostatics that suggests the cause of this hair-raising phenomenon is tiny structural changes that occur at the surface of materials when they come into contact with each other.
The finding could ultimately help technology companies create more sustainable and longer-lasting power sources for small electronic devices.
Supported by a $400,000 National Science Foundation grant, Chen and Zayd Leseman, PhD, associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Kansas State University, are conducting research on the triboelectric effect, a phenomenon wherein one material becomes electrically charged after it contacts a different material through friction.
The triboelectric effect has been known since ancient times, but the tools for understanding and applying it have only become available recently due to the advent of nanotechnology.
“The idea our study presents directly answers this ancient mystery, and it has the potential to unify the existing theory. The numerical results are consistent with the published experimental observations,” says Chen.
The research Chen and Leseman conduct is a mix of disciplines, including contact mechanics, solid mechanics, materials science, electrical engineering and manufacturing. With computer models and physical experiments, they are engineering triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which are capable of controlling and harvesting static electricity.
“The friction between your fingers and your smartphone screen. The friction between your wrist and smartwatch. Even the friction between your shoe and the ground. These are great potential sources of energy that we can to tap into,” Chen says. “Ultimately, this research can increase our economic security and help society by reducing our need for conventional sources of power.”
Learn more: Static electricity could charge our electronics
The Latest on: Static electricity
[google_news title=”” keyword=”static electricity” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Static electricity
- Axalta to introduce anti-static gunon April 28, 2024 at 10:07 pm
Axalta Coating Systems has partnered with the team at Hermann Innovations GmbH to bring the IONSTAR Anti-Static offering to Australia and New Zealand. The alliance reflects Axalta’s support of ...
- Repercussions of home blast in February 2022 now in legal arenaon April 28, 2024 at 1:00 am
From workers who suffered life-altering injuries, to a family who was displaced for 13 months, to a home insurer that is suing a welding company for more than $10 million, to intervention by the state ...
- Why does striking flint against steel start a fire?on April 27, 2024 at 2:00 am
All fire-starting methods have a similar goal: generating enough heat to ignite a fuel source. When scraped together, flint and steel can generate this heat quickly because of the way the iron in the ...
- Two ruptured pipelines are believed to have caused fire in Ward Countyon April 26, 2024 at 1:52 pm
The Ward County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the fire has now been contained as of 11:45 a.m. and that the fire is believed to have been caused by two different explosions that happened. NewsWest 9 ...
- A powerful volcano is erupting. Here’s what that could mean for weather and climateon April 23, 2024 at 9:08 am
Mount Ruang’s potential impacts to weather and climate are starting to come into focus, even as the danger posed by the volcano persists.
- Don’t buy these dangerous USB-C accessorieson April 22, 2024 at 6:08 am
Among the risks cited by USB-C experts are: The risk of static electricity discharge. Data loss and performance degradation from electronic magnetic interference from the exposed POGO pins (the tiny ...
- 12 handy ways to use dryer sheets beyond laundryon April 20, 2024 at 5:07 am
Run a dryer sheet through your hair on low-humidity days to combat static-induced flyaways. With this simple trick, say goodbye to unruly hair. A used dryer sheet is ideal for cleaning up dry spills ...
- Deadly warehouse fire caused by static electricity, investigators sayon April 18, 2024 at 4:54 pm
OSHA investigators say they've figured out the cause of an explosion at a warehouse that killed four workers and severely injured a fifth back in December of 2022.
- This water bottle purifies your drink with energy from your stepson April 16, 2024 at 5:01 pm
Young-Jun Kim at Yonsei University in Seoul and his colleagues devised a way to use these charges to kill pathogens in a handheld 500-millilitre water bottle. The charges flow from the hand into an ...
- Water purifier is powered by static electricity from your bodyon April 12, 2024 at 7:18 am
A 10-minute walk can build up enough static electricity to power a battery-free water purifier, which could be especially helpful during disasters or in regions that lack access to clean water and sta ...
via Bing News