Researchers develop power source from silicone rubber

ERJ staff report (DS)

Princeton, New Jersey -- researchers at Princeton University have successfully embedded ceramic nanoribbons onto silicone rubber sheets. The combination offers a super-efficient piezo-electrical generator.

The development is described in a paper published in an ACS publication, Nano Letters, dated 26 January. The paper is authored by Yi Qi, Noah T. Jafferis, and others from Princeton University in New Jersey.

Historically, ceramic components need high temperatures to lay down, which makes them incompatible with polymers, but the new development overcomes this limitation. The researchers say the present, "a scalable and parallel process for transferring crystalline piezoelectric nanothick ribbons of lead zirconate titanate from host substrates onto flexible rubbers over macroscopic area."

The abstract continues, "The excellent performance of the piezo-ribbon assemblies coupled with stretchable, biocompatible rubber may enable a host of exciting avenues in fundamental research and novel applications."

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Paper abstract from Nano Letters

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