NASA Makes Longer, Straighter Piezoelectric Nanowires in Microgravity

nasa-piezoelecric-nanowire-researchers

Microgravity provides nano solutions.

Piezoelectric nanowires are the stuff that make power-generating pants a possibility, and that prodigious potential has drawn the attention of NASA. You see, self-powered spacesuits are awfully attractive to our nation’s space agency, and a few of its finest student researchers have discovered that the current-creating strands of zinc oxide can be made longer and straighter — and therefore more powerful — when freed from gravity’s unrelenting pull. That means nanowires grown in microgravity could lead to higher capacity batteries and the aforementioned juice-generating interstellar garb…

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Medical Devices Powered by the Patient’s Own Heart

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A single zinc oxide nanowire can be attached to a heart, where it produces electric current as it bends with every beat.

A tiny, nearly invisible nanowire can convert the energy of pulsing, flexing muscles inside a rat’s body into electric current, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have shown. Their nano generator could someday lead to medical implants and sensors powered by heartbeats or breathing.

 

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Electronic Gadgets Could One Day Be Powered By Blood Flow

Electronic Gadgets Could One Day Be Powered By Blood Flow

This image show an experimental test of piezoelectric nanowires that harness a hamster’s wheel-turning energy into usable power. 

Power generated from flowing blood, simple body movements or a gentle breeze could one day be converted to electricity to charge iPods, cell phones and other personal electronic devices.

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