Internal nanogenerator allows for self

Hooking your pocket-sized supercomputer up to the wall to charge it is really primitive, right? What is this, the Dark Ages? You might have a more modern option soon if some rese from the University of Wisconsin-Madison pans out. A team led by professor Xudong Wang has worked out a way to use a piezoelectric nanogenerator to harvest power in mobile devices from vibration.

The device is based on a common piezoelectric material called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). A piezoelectric material is capable of turning mechanical energy into electrical energy, but that alone isn't enough to make this vibration-powered generator work.

The PVDF thin film membrane was treated with zinc oxide nanoparticles, which were then removed from the film. The purpose of adding the nanoparticles was that they alter the consistency of the film - it left small pits in the membrane, which the researchers call mesopores. Instead of being rigid, the PVDF film has a more sponge-like consistency. This is what makes the piezoelectric nanogenerator good at turning vibration into electricity.

Electrode sheets are added to the front and back of the completed PVDF film to complete the generator. This finished package can be mounted anywhere inside a mobile device and supply power to the battery as it bounces around in your pocket or sits in a dock in your car. The nanogenerator can even be attached to curved surfaces or human skin.

The team is working on scaling up this technology to the point it can produce enough power to make a difference in your next phone (or maybe the one after that). Perhaps at some point you'll just shake your phone to get some juice.