Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Scurrying Hamsters Generate Electricity
Filed under: in the news...
We reported previously on a tiny electric generator built from Zinc Oxide wires being designed and studied at Georgia Tech. The device uses principles of piezoelectrics, the ability of some materials to turn mechanical stress into electrical energy.
The latest research from Zhong Lin Wang and colleagues at Georgia Institute of Technology demonstrates the feasibility of this Single Wire Generator device by fitting it onto a hamster (and a human tapping finger, but that isn't as adorable). By connecting four of these devices in series embedded in a makeshift hamster jacket" the system was able to generate an AC voltage of up to 0.15 Volts from various hamster movements (e.g: scurrying, scratching etc.).
The biggest challenge currently appears to be getting multiple generators to work in sync with each other, which is necessary to generate voltages high enough to power useful devices. The technology could presumably be used eventually to power various medical devices like pacemakers and hearing aids.
Watch a video of hamster-generated electricity at ACS publications...
Read the publication in Nano Letters here...
(Hat tip: Gizmodo)
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