The Power of Mechanical Energy!

By: Lesly Hernandez

The emissions of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels are increasing environmental problems. Research is being conducted on self-powered electronics with the use of mechanical energy. Mechanical energy is omnipresent and can be produced with simple movements such as typing, walking, and even rotating tires. Engineering researchers from Michigan State University created a new way to produce energy from human motion. The device is a flexible, foldable, biocompatible, highly efficient thin film ferroelectret nanogenerators (FENG). They used a silicon wafer and covered it with thin layers of substances that were environmentally friendly. Ions were added to the device and electrical energy is produced when the device is compressed. The nanogenerator can also be folded to a smaller size increasing its energy power. The scientists were able to operate a LCD touch screen and 20 LED lights. Their new invention has the potential to power various electronics without depleting our resources or polluting our environment. Many of the materials used were environmentally friendly which means they are being more efficient with their resource use. In addition, using mechanical energy will not harm the environment and it is a type of energy that will never be depleted.

Figure 1. Photograph of encapsulated FENG being bent by fingers (Li et al., 2016, http://www.sciencedirect.com.tamiu.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S2211285516304244).

Reference

Li, W., D. Torres, T. Wang, C. Wang, and N. Sepúlveda. 2016. Flexible and biocompatible polypropylene ferroelectret nanogenerator (FENG): On the path toward wearable devices powered by human motion. Nano Energy. 30: 649-657.