Cell phones to draw power from your sound

04 December 2008

Guess what? It is slowly becoming evident that cell phones can run without batteries,  relying instead on the sound waves you feed into it for power, thanks to the recent work of Tahir Cagin, a professor in the Artie McFerrin department of chemical engineering at Texas A&M University

Utilising materials called "piezoelectrics," Cagin, whose research focuses on nanotechnology, has made a revolutionary discovery in power harvesting - a field that aims to develop self-powered devices, displacing the concept of replaceable power supplies, such as batteries.

Apparently they have discovered a type of piezoelectric material that can covert energy at a 100 per cent increase when manufactured at a very small size - in this case, around 21 nanometers in thickness. If constructed bigger or smaller than this they show a significant decrease in their energy-converting capacity.

Nanometer is a microscopic unit of measurement representing one-billionth of a meter. Atoms and molecules are measured in nanometers, and a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide. Small as it may seem, its impact could be huge and immensely significant. Battery life remains a major concern for popular mp3 players and cell phones that are required to perform an ever-expanding array of functions.

However, beyond mere consumer convenience, self-powering devices are of great interest to several government agencies in the US.

Low-powered electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, personal communicators and a host of other computer-related devices could benefit from his findings, which would be applicable to anyone from the average consumer to law enforcement officers or even soldiers in the battlefield.