At the University of Texas in Dallas has developed a fabric-based nanotubes can generate energy from the movements of a human thorax during breathing. It consists of twisted carbon fibers and is called “tvistron”. The physical mechanism of its operation is surprisingly simple.
If the weave of nanotubes semblance of a twisted rope, it will tend to recover its shape when an external torsional effects will stop. Now, if you moisten it with electrolyte, when any deformation of the fiber is coated is divided into areas of positive and negative charge, between which will begin to flow electric current.
During such deformation-recovery converts the small amount of mechanical energy into electrical energy. And if the first is difficult with so many to use efficiently, electricity can be store in the battery. As example, consider a balloon, which on a 10-cm testrone thread is suspended the sinker. Straightening under his weight, the filament generates 1.79 microwatt to 1 milligram of its mass – potentially, this free energy can power a small wearable electronics. For comparison, if you increase the system scale up to 1 kilogram of fabric and make it oscillate with a frequency of 30 vibrations per second, it will produce 250 watts of electricity. This is enough to feed, for example, a desktop computer.
At this moment, the technology of creating testrone fabric is quite complicated and expensive. However, its capacity to collect free energy from any movements can produce a revolution, for example, in the field of Internet of things. Pieces testrone tissue can harvest the energy of ocean waves to power buoys and clothes with inserts nanofibers can power sensors or small gadgets.
