One group of scientists is trying to harness wind Energy Department by mimicking the move of a airfield of grass ruffle in the gentle wind — except their forage is made of plastic and their field is on a ceiling .
According to the findings publishing in the journalAdvanced Materials , a joint team of Formosan and American researchers make an experimental turboelectric nanogenerator ( TENG ) . Here ’s how it knead : The squad cohere plastic strips to a gameboard in a manner that make them stand upright in row . One side of each funnies is surface with nanowires and the other side with indium tin oxide ( ITO ) . When the “ Mary Jane ” is pushed by the wind , the nanowires brush against the ITO side of the surround strips , allow for negatron to pass from one piece to the next . This generates a current via thetriboelectric issue .
This method acting of beget winding power could be hard-nosed in many billet . In addition to harnessing power from unfluctuating gusts , the technology would be able to efficaciously work with choppy twist blowing in any direction and would be ideal for spots where windmills would be Laputan .
The observational TENG — which so far has only been tested in a lab by using an electric fan and 60 strips of charge card on a model rooftop — generate enough energy to light 60 LED . The system was also functional in wind speeding as low as 13 mph and was most effective in tight to 62 - miles per hour winds — a speed too in high spirits to be hardheaded , asone researcher notedtoNew Scientist .
While the task is still far from quick to be used out in the real world , a 985 - square - foot rooftop carpeted with the strips would generate 7.11 kilowatts , enough vigour to mostly power a home , harmonise to the researchers . For now , the team is focused on figuring out a way to efficiently stash away the energy that ’s yield . They will also take to come up a substitute for In Sn oxide because it ’s both toxic and expensive .
[ h / t : New Scientist ]
