No More Dead Batteries

A new battery has been designed that not only stores power but also produces it. In the not-so-distant future, they could be mass-produced as dime-sized chips to power a broad range of electronics including fitness sensors, medical implants and Bluetooth devices.

The tiny powerhouse (dubbed the Vibration Energy Harvester) is made mostly of graphene – two-dimensional carbon sheets only one atom thick. The sheets are capable of capturing minuscule amounts of kinetic energy from the motion of gas particles around them. In addition, their own thermal energy causes them to vibrate. All of this movement can be converted into electricity when the sheet is attached to the proper electrical components, creating a battery that never runs out of power.

When millions of them are put on a chip, the Vibration Energy Harvesters are capable of producing enough energy to power something like a temperature or heart rate sensor. It can also be scaled up for much larger applications; however, the focus of the technology is to bring power wherever it’s needed rather than scaling up for larger generator facilities. The project is part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between industry and academia.