Now you can take a quick jog to power your iPod when Eskom decides to render your charger useless. Just remember to put on your “Power Shirt” - a piece of nanotechnology-infused clothing that can generate enough electricity to power small electronic devices through harnessing and converting physical motion into electrical energy.

electricity

The piezoelectric effect makes this all possible. Piezoelectric refers to the ability of certain materials to generate an electrical potential in response to mechanical stress. The clever scientists cover the textile fibers with nanowires that can generate an electrical current using this p-e effect. The researchers believe these fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture the energy from wind motion, sound, or other mechanical energy!

A fiber-based nanogenerator that included two-centimeter-long fibers can generate a current of about four nanoamperes and an output voltage of roughly four millivolts.  A much-improved design of a square meter of fabric made from the fibers could theoretically generate as much as 80 milliwatts of power.

Damn! That means your nano-Speedo probably won’t generate enough current to power a TV on the beach.

Source: Treehugger