World's Thinnest Electric Generator

Researchers Develop World's Thinnest Electric Generator
Columbia University (10/15/14) Holly Evarts

Researchers from Columbia University and the Georgia Institute of Technology say they have made the first experimental observation of piezoelectricity and the piezotronic effect in an atomically thin material. The team used the two-dimensional semiconducting material molybdenum disulfide for the breakthrough. Piezoelectricity is an effect in which stretching or compressing a material causes it to generate an electrical voltage, or the reverse. The researchers say the advance could lead to a unique generator and mechanosensation devices that are optically transparent, extremely light, and very bendable and stretchable. The research also should greatly expand the application of layered materials for human-machine interfacing, robotics, microelectromechanical systems, and active flexible electronics. "This material--just a single layer of atoms--could be made as a wearable device, perhaps integrated into clothing, to convert energy from your body movement to electricity and power wearable sensors or medical devices, or perhaps supply enough energy to charge your cell phone in your pocket," says Columbia professor James Hone. He says the development ultimately could result in complete atomic-thick nanosystems that are self-powered by harvesting mechanical energy from the environment.