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Transparent Paper Produces Power With Just a Touch

Posted by samzenpus on from the power-up dept.

ckwu writes: A new transparent-paper device can generate electrical power from a user's touch. The paper energy-harvester could be used to make disposable, self-powered touch screens that fold; interactive light-up books; touch-sensitive skin for prosthetics; and security systems for art and documents, according to the researchers. The device is made out of nanopaper, a tangled mat made of nanometers-wide cellulose fibers that is transparent and smooth like plastic. The researchers deposit carbon nanotubes on the nanopaper to make a pair of electrodes, and then sandwich a polyethylene film in between. The generator works via electrostatic induction. Pressing one side of the device causes a change in the charge balance between the nanotube electrodes, resulting in a flow of current through the device. Releasing the pressure causes electrons to flow back, so repeated pressing and releasing creates continuous current. The researchers demonstrated that the generator could produce enough power when pressed to light up a small liquid-crystal display.

38 comments

  1. Too good to be true by TheAngryCat · · Score: 1

    This could be the material of the century, imagine exercise sweats that charge your smartphone.

    1. Re:Too good to be true by Lumpy · · Score: 0

      Too bad it never will. You cant get around the laws of thermodynamics. you will never get something to generate that kind of power from clothing flexing, not even if it was 99% efficient.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Too good to be true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, if that were the case then this would be the first actual demonstratable/sellable working vapour-ware product in history.

    3. Re:Too good to be true by weilawei · · Score: 2, Funny

      first actual demonstratable/sellable working vapour-ware product in history

      Kids these days. Did we already forget steam engines?

    4. Re:Too good to be true by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      By the time this kind of material could be mass produced, let alone used as material in clothing, the amount of energy necessary to power a smart phone might have dropped considerably. It wasn't too long ago when you couldn't get more than a few hours worth of charge from a laptop and now we've got portables that can make it through a day of regular use on a single charge. Hell, by then we might not even be using phones anymore, or they'll be so unrecognizable that if we could see them now we wouldn't call them phones.

      Even if it's not commercially viable, I'd like to think that there are a few nerds in the future who hack something like this together just because it sounds cool.

    5. Re: Too good to be true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nothing as fucking useless as the constant BS barrage of 'some day/in the future' wgaf news.

    6. Re:Too good to be true by dbIII · · Score: 1

      That's assuming the device it is charging is very power hungry.
      Consider how HP calculators used to plug into mains and have LED segments versus the current calculators that are solar and have LCD segments. If we only have milliwatts there's a lot more we can do with it than we used to.

    7. Re:Too good to be true by TheAngryCat · · Score: 1

      Just dreaming out loud... I'll be back, I need to throw the dog PooP into MR. Fusion..

  2. smooth like plastic by frovingslosh · · Score: 0

    Really? Is that now the standard that we use to explain things? What does "smooth like plastic" even mean? While "smooth as glass" is a commonly accepted term (in spite of the obvious fact that not all glass is manufactured smooth), I think the idea that all or even most plastic is smooth is a concept that most people will reject. I have a lot of plastic in front of me as I type this. Some is glossy smooth, but the majority (by volume) has textured surfaces that are anything but smooth.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
    1. Re:smooth like plastic by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      Exactly. We all know that standard for smoothness is a baby's bottom. They need to use the BB scale.

    2. Re: smooth like plastic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a contextual colloquialism. The first thing that came to my mind when reading the title was a flexible touch screen.

    3. Re:smooth like plastic by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      When they were talking about transparent paper, books, and plastic, I was imagining smooth cellulose acetate overhead transparencies. Though I guess using an obsolete projection technology as a reference might not be the best thing on /.

  3. Disposable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The paper energy-harvester could be used to make disposable, self-powered touch screens that fold

    Awesome, just what the world needs, more disposable shit.

    1. Re: Disposable by chill · · Score: 1

      Yeah. I get enough disposable shit from the world every fall, when the trees dump all their leaves in my yard. And during spring and summer when after I cut it to an acceptable length, that Falk grad just comes back.

      I've tried piling the leaves and grass up, along with things like the leftovers from my food and all the paper products I use, and it magically turns into dirt after a few months. I think it is the compost fairies and their workers, all those big, red works they send to sort thru the pile.

      You're right. All my packaging and stuff should be shit that never goes away. They need to make like titanium paper or something that lasts forever. Fuck this disposable shit, I get enough of that from the world itself.

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    2. Re: Disposable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Composting is great and all, but you did read the words "carbon nanotubes" and "polyethylene film" in the summary, didn't you?

    3. Re: Disposable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe he is one of those filthy anti-science types that thinks the earth will just magically reset itself after a few more decades of climate change.

  4. Hmmm, fishy. by rickb928 · · Score: 1

    Press it, current flows one way. Release, current flows there other way.

    Net energy? Any guesses?

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    1. Re: Hmmm, fishy. by GrantRobertson · · Score: 1

      Ever heard of alternating current or diode bridge rectifiers?

    2. Re:Hmmm, fishy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > Press it, current flows one way. Release, current flows there other way.
      > Net energy? Any guesses?

      It's > 0. Look at the wall to your electricity outlet. One way and back, 60 times per second. And yet your computer is getting energy.

      Now, the summary is poorly worded. Certainly one gets a current, and surely it will be available for a continued period... but it's not a "continuous current".

      It's alternate.

    3. Re:Hmmm, fishy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Press it, current flows one way. Release, current flows there other way.

      Net energy? Any guesses?

      Thomas Edison, is that you? Tesla was right; get over it already.

      (For those who don't get the joke, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents#Edison.27s_publicity_campaign. Makes for fascinating reading.)

    4. Re: Hmmm, fishy. by rickb928 · · Score: 1

      Of course I have .

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    5. Re: Hmmm, fishy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm Humans that produce cheap electricity...Matrix anyone?

    6. Re:Hmmm, fishy. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's alternate.

      Yes, but what is the alternative?

    7. Re:Hmmm, fishy. by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
      That is called Alternating Current

      Perhaps you have heard of it?

      It was big back in the 20th and 21th century, popularirzed by a man called Tesla, though he had help from Edison and an elephant.

      --
      excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  5. her touch by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    will do that.

  6. Land fills by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why the fuck do I want new technology that is disposable? Get your heads out of your asses!

  7. IT's SUCKING YOU OF ENERGY! No wonder I'm tried. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't wait until someone brings a lawsuit over this.

  8. This is how we power it... by Grog6 · · Score: 2

    Neon Condoms, Neon fleshlights, Neon Dildos... all will be very popular, I'm sure. :)

    If we pave the streets with it, how much power can we get?

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
    1. Re:This is how we power it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better than that. Self powered dildos.

  9. It's just a piezoelectric film by scourfish · · Score: 1

    And people on Youtube have also already lit up LED's using piezoelectric generators as well.

  10. Paper by GrahamJ · · Score: 2

    Neat, but why call it paper? No part of this is paper.

    1. Re:Paper by codeButcher · · Score: 1

      To quote the summary: "The device is made out of nanopaper, a tangled mat made of nanometers-wide cellulose fibers". You should find that the non-nano kind is also made of cellulose fibers, so no surprise there.

      Which does not negate the non-paper parts, i.e. carbon nanotubes and the polyethylene film (plastic) sandwiched between the paper layers.....

      --
      Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
  11. Power from vibrating elements.... by BlueCoder · · Score: 1

    If you can brace one structure and the other structure vibrates then one would have continuous power. I can also see this on wheels for continuous current.

    Whatever happened to that miracle device years back that also featured carbon nanotubes... it was suppose to harvest heat. Problem was they needed to figure out how to build micro rectifiers for the nanotubes.

    1. Re: Power from vibrating elements.... by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      That 'miracle' is a Peltier Device.

      They are pretty cool, but short of miraculous.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  12. A Drummer's dream by JimSadler · · Score: 1

    OK so a drummer or a windmill could strike this substance with a drum stick and power would flow. Really? How about we put bumps in the road and coat them with this paper. Every time a car's wheel touches the paper we get power. We could even coat statues in the park with this stuff and every time a pigeon lands we will get power. Or how about big sheets of this paper and rain drops striking it?

    1. Re: A Drummer's dream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That car bump idea is just a waste of fossil fuel

  13. Imagine this being passively installed everywhere by Torontoman · · Score: 1

    Imagine having it blowing in the wind. Or on anything that vibrates. Or on roads or in clothes. Very fascinating.

  14. Neon Poster board, Paper stationary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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