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Scientists have developed technology that can turn steps into electricity.
Tapping into an unexpected energy source, parquet, Swiss researchers have developed an energy harvesting device that uses wood with a combination of a silicone coating and embedded nanocrystals to produce enough energy to power LED bulbs and small electronics.
This device, called a nanogenerator, is based on sandwiching two pieces of wood between electrodes.
Pieces of wood become electrically charged due to contact and separation when walked on via a phenomenon called the triboelectric effect. This effect occurs when electrons can transfer from one object to another, similar to the static electricity produced when you rub a balloon on your hair for a few seconds.
If a material is tribo-positive it tends to lose electrons, and if it is tribo-negative it tends to attract electrons, study lead author Guido Panzarasa said. at the Chair of Wood Materials Science at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. Zürich and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Dübendorf.
“Wood does not have a strong tendency to lose or attract electrons. As such, wood is a terrible triboelectric material, but wood is a great building material, ”he said, noting that it is also beneficial given that the material is a natural and renewable resource that also stores carbon dioxide.
To enhance the triboelectric properties of wood, the researchers coated one piece with a common silicone that gains electrons on contact, while the other piece was embellished with nanocrystals that tend to lose electrons. After testing different types of wood, they found that radially cut spruce – a common wood for construction in Europe – generated 80 times more electricity than natural wood.
Researchers found that using a wooden floor prototype with a slightly smaller area than an A4 sheet of paper produced enough energy to power household LED lights and small electronics such as calculators. They managed to light a light bulb with the prototype when an adult human stepped on it, according to the article published in the journal Matter.
“Imagine making a floor with these kinds of devices, the amount of energy that could be produced by people just walking,” said Panzarasa. “Our goal was to demonstrate the possibility of modifying wood with relatively environmentally friendly processes to make it triboelectric. Spruce is cheap and available and has favorable mechanical properties.
Professor Nick Jenkins, head of Cardiff University’s Integrated Renewable Energy Production and Supply Research Group, who was not involved in the research, suggested that the typical application of such a device could power an Internet of Things device. “Of course, if a continuous supply of energy was required, such as for lighting, then it would take continuous movement to provide the input power.”
Panzarasa warned that so far this has been proof of concept data and the technology needs more work before it can be extended to industrial use.
“We have focused our attention on developing the approach to make it even more industry friendly. And for that we may have to sacrifice overall efficiency for simpler methods of wood modification, ”he said.
“So even though the electrical output of a single device would not be as high as what we published, the union of many devices on a larger flooring unit will ultimately produce a significant amount of energy. “
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