Electrically driven gallium movement in carbon nanotubes

Results will guide the design of nanomass delivery systems and innovative nanoswitches
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Now charge mobile, laptop while you walk

Believe it or not, you may be able to charge your mobile, laptop and iPod by a few minutes of walk in near future. Scientists at Georgia Tech university have claimed to have developed the first device to tap the power of motion and produce practical amounts of electricity from piezoelectronics.

The team group said piezoelectrics can generate voltages up to 1.26 volts, and can produce even higher voltages, the Discovery Channel reported.

“This is a key step to designing technology that will be useful in the near future,” said co-author Z L Wang. “Every move you make, every step you take, you can generate electricity. The power output could quickly jump high enough to power iPods and cell phones,” Wang said.

By cramming 20,000 nanowires into three square centimetres, the scientists have created the world’s first device powered solely by piezoelectric materials.

A piezoelectric material is something that, when pushed or pulled, generates a mild electrical charge.

“Within three to five years piezoeleectric nanowires, woven into a cotton shirt or housed in a shoe heel, could charge a cell phone or laptop battery after even a short walk,” they said.

The group used plentiful and easy-to-manipulate zinc oxide nanowires to create their nanogenerator. Twenty thousand nanowires, placed side by side and end to end, covers three square centimetres, with two thin electrodes hanging off either end.

This unique arrangement maximises the electricity the piezoelectric nanowires can create. The wires work with each other, amplifying the electrical charge to record levels as the single layer is pushed back and forth with only the most slight and gentle of nudges.

“Pushing the arranged nanowires harder or faster would bump the power output up to 30 times without damaging the device. If more powerful, and more expensive, gallium nitride replaced the cheap zinc oxide nanowires the power output could increase another 10 times,” the team added.

That’s more than enough energy to power most consumer devices, if the piezoelectric material were in motion constantly. Other tiny piezoelectric-powered devices could sense fires and gather weather data in areas outside the reach of traditional power grids.

To power such small sensors Wang will create tiny batteries or supercapacitors to store the electricity generated by his advanced piezoelectric nanowires.

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Ga interdiffusion of substrate during inas nanowire growth.

Chemical composition analysis shows that nanowires were composed of the indium, gallium and arsenic elements, all homogeneously distributed along the nanowire. The presence of Ga in the chemical composition of the nanowire was surprising because only indium and arsenide were used as precursors during the MBE growth. Our results has been found that a strong interdiffusion of gaas (111)B substrate occurs during growth, creating a ternary ingaas alloy in the nanowires