5 things you didn’t know about... a flexible ferroelectret nanogenerator
Credit: G.L. Kohuth. The flexible ferroelectret nanogenerator can be embedded into a flag or other fabric.
It is a self-powered thin patch loudspeaker or microphone for flexible electronics.
1. Nanotechnology researchers at Michigan State University, USA, have discovered that a paper-thin ferroelectret nanogenerator (FENG) they developed in 2016 can convert vibrations from sound or mechanical energy into electrical energy, and vice versa.
2. The FENG incorporates a silicon wafer and thin sheets of silver, polyamide and polypropylene ferroelectret, with ions added to each layer.
3. The device generates energy when compressed by human movement.
4. To demonstrate its use as a microphone, the team developed a FENG security patch, accessing a computer using voice recognition. To show its function as a loudspeaker, they implanted the FENG fabric into a flag and played music through it.
5. Potential applications include lightweight loudspeakers, voice-activated newspapers, noise-cancelling sheeting and voice-activated security patches.
To read the paper in full visit, go.nature.com/2qF7Lwy
To find out more see page 21of the upcoming July issue of Materials World.