piezoelectrics

Whether our laptop gives up just as we're about to finish a crucial report or our phone kicks the bucket when we're hopelessly lost, we've all felt the pain of running out of juice. Which is why we love the sound of laptops that can be charged by typing, or phones that power up as you walk. And it's all thanks to a genetically engineered virus that turns movement or pressure into electricity.

Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory set out to generate piezoelectric power from the M13 virus, commonly found in science labs.

It's the first time scientists have generated electricity by harnessing the piezoelectric properties of a biological material. The piezoelectric effect was discovered in 1880 and sees a charge build up in crystals, ceramics, and even bone when placed under mechanical stress -- creating a spark in cigarette lighters or barbecues, for example.

Read more of "Laptops could charge by typing thanks to a virus on the keys" at Crave UK. … Read more

Many of the last remaining BlackBerry holdouts continue to clamor about the advantages of a physical keyboard, citing the difficulty of using a touch-screen device if its user cannot see the display. According to one of Apple's latest patent applications, that argument may soon become moot.

The "Touch-based User Interface with Haptic Feedback" patent application, discovered by AppleInsider, highlights the use of actuators and sensors on an iPad's or iPhone's display that would allow a user to effectively feel buttons and other controls.

Apple's take on haptic technology places piezoelectric actuators under the display, … Read more

Lytro's Founder and CEO Ren Ng Ph.D. stopped by the BOL studio today to discuss his new product the Lytro Light Field Camera which allows you to focus different depths of field within one photograph. We picked his brain about how the technology works and how it will evolve into the art of photography and beyond. We also discuss the FTC's probe into Google's business practices as well as the upcoming possible overhaul of the United States Patent office rules and regulations. Lulzsec continues to make news and publish the identity of its victims while a rival hacker group calling themselves TeaMp0ison has vowed to out the members of Lulzsec by publishing Lulzsec's identities and personal information in retaliation. All this and more on today's Buzz Out Loud with special guest host from Android Atlas Antuan Goodwin who has a deep fear of Zombies.

What if you could power your laptop just by typing on it? Researchers in Australia are studying how piezoelectrics could charge devices through the mechanical pressure generated when using them.

In a study published in Advanced Functional Materials, Madhu Bhaskaran from RMIT University in Melbourne and colleagues for the first time managed to precisely measure voltage and current generation for nanoscale piezoelectric thin films.

"The power of piezoelectrics could be integrated into running shoes to charge mobile phones, enable laptops to be powered through typing or even used to convert blood pressure into a power source for pacemakers--essentially creating an everlasting battery," Bhaskaran said.

As she explains in the interview below, Bhaskaran says the amount of energy that can be generated by the thin films is about 10 times less than what's required for portable devices. … Read more

It might seem a little ironic, but automotive traffic could be the next source of green energy. A bill for a pilot program that will harness road vibration and convert it to energy passed 6-1 in the California State Assembly's Natural Resources Committee yesterday. It will move to the Assembly Transportation Committee for voting next week.

California Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) first introduced bill AB 306 in February.

Piezoelectric generation captures energy that cars, trains, or people generate as they move across surfaces and cause vibrations. These vibrations can be harnessed and converted to energy using piezoelectric materials … Read more

The walls have ears, the saying goes--but at some point, so might people's clothes. With the help of fiber research at MIT, fabrics of the future could both hear and make noises.

Yoel Fink, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his colleagues developed fibers that are active where most are passive. Specifically, through a new application of widely used technology called piezoelectrics, fibers can convert sound waves into an electrical signal and vice versa, MIT announced Monday.

Piezoelectric speakers have been around for a long time--beeping digital watches and those musical greeting cards use them, … Read more

A variety of off-grid devices use the wind, the sun, or fuel cells to power up small electronics. But what if you could charge your cell phone just by talking into it, eliminating the need for batteries or cords?

What would make this possible is piezoelectricity, in which a mechanical force is converted to electricity. Some cigarette and barbeque grill lighters are an example. When a button is punched, pressure on a crystal within produces voltage, creating a spark.

In principle, the pressure to power a device could come from sound vibrations.

Crafting such piezoelectric electronics would require sensors with a specific size of crystal or ceramic material. Engineers say they have taken an early step by identifying a sweet spot at which a crystal could produce energy.

The capability of barium titanate crystals to harvest power doubles when they're about 23 nanometers in size, according to an analysis led by engineer Tahir Cagin at Texas A&M University. A human hair, for contrast, is about 100,000 nanometers wide.

However, it could be years or decades before scientists and entrepreneurs apply the findings to consumer products, he said.

"There are limitations to how much power you can generate at a given size," said Cagin, adding that an iPod or cell phone may require nano-sensors at a scale and composition different from what his research suggested. … Read more

Scientists at the CEA/Leti-Minatec in Grenoble, France are looking at ways to produce electricity from the vibrations caused by falling raindrops.

It's the latest step toward exploiting piezoelectric principles. In piezoelectrics, bending or otherwise deforming an object can produce power. If you take a tiny wire and bend it, for example, a negative charge gets produced on the stretched side while a positive charge gets created on the compressed side. When the pressure on the wire is relieved, an electrical current can be detected.

Using the CEA's concept, raindrops hitting a flexible surface set off the vibrations … Read more

A San Francisco nightclub installed on Monday what it's promoting as the city's first vertical garden. Several plant-filled boxes turned on their sides and bolted outside near the entrance are the first step in the Zen Compound's plans to cover the facade of the building in greenery.

"The hope is to have a living building," said Mike Zuckerman, director of sustainability at the 40,000 square foot complex. He spotted a butterfly hovering near native licorice ferns on Tuesday.

Green rooftops are in vogue in cities around the country. Hanging, wall-mounted gardens, on the other … Read more