This machine could turn your power walking into usable energy... Is your body the new clean energy battery?

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Body movements like walking could create power in the not-so-distant future.
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▼ Imagine your body as a human battery. When you walk or run — or do something even slower, like type — you create energy which keeps your smartphone, smartwatch, medical sensor, or other low-power device going. The faster you move, the more electricity you generate. Sound far-fetched? It may be closer than you think.
Such an innovation — which scientists predict could become reality within three years — comes from a device known as a triboelectric nanogenerator, or TENG, which is capable of capturing kinetic energy from human movements, as well as from other non-human energy sources, such as wind, wave, and machine vibrations. A TENG relies on the contact between two or more materials to produce electricity.

Triboelectric effect from a Van de Graaff generator.
U.S. Department of Energy
“We all have experienced that a balloon rubbed on our hair can [stick] to a wall or attract small pieces of papers,” said Ishara Dharmasena, a doctoral student at the University of Surrey, and lead scientist on the project. “Our clothing tends to stick to our skin on a dry day. We all have experienced lightening. All these are due to the triboelectric effect, or static charging. TENGs use the triboelectric effect to transform the movements…into electricity.”
In a real-life application, TENGs are connected to a motion source, such as a vibrating machine, clothing, and the contact/rubbing action of TENG layers results in the charging of triboelectric surfaces, he explained. When the charged triboelectric surfaces are moved relative to each other — contacting and separating or sliding — it creates a current.
“The power output is obviously dependent on the activity level,” Dharmasena said. “The faster your movements are, the higher the power generated. This technology can work with low frequency movements, that is, slower movements such as walking, typing, arm movements….[those] associated with typical daily movements for an average person.”

Wind energy is another clean, renewable alternative to fossil fuels.
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The effects of climate change have inspired a wealth of research seeking to find inventive clean and renewable ways of creating energy as an alternative to greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels that intensify global warming. The Surrey researchers are among a number of scientists working toward the goal of using the human body as an energy source. Research similar to that of  the University of Surrey, for example, also is underway at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Institute of Semiconductors (IoP) at Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), while other scientists are experimenting with special outdoor sidewalks  and indoor floorsthat can collect energy, and convert it to electricity, when people walk or run on them.
“The world urgently needs new forms of affordable and sustainable energy sources,” said Ravi Silva, director of the university’s Advanced Technology Institute (ATI). “TENGs could play a major role in making this dream a reality. TENGs not only present a wonderful opportunity for the consumer electronics industry, but they are an incredibly exciting material group that could be used in all countries and remote locations where the national grid does not extend, particularly for radios.” (▪ ▪ ▪)

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