There has almost an infinite number of mechanical energy sources all around us, and basically, anything that moves can be harvested for energy. The environmental energy sources, for instance, could be as tiny as the rain drop, or very huge like the sea wave power, and even the human body can be regarded as a source such as the heartbeat, breathing, and blood flow. With the increasing application of nanotechnology materials, scientists are finding more and more ways to make use of these limitless energy sources. And the invention of Nano-Generator, makes the realization of nanotech more tangible, which could also help to power the future life.
What is Nanotechnology
The ideas and concepts behind nano-science and nanotechnology were originally started long before the term “nanotechnology” was invented. It was presented with a talk entitled as “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” in 1959 by Richard Feynman, a physicist whom worked in an American Physical Society. Over a decade later, in his explorations of ultra-precision machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi coined the term nanotechnology.
Definitely speaking, nanotechnology itself is not a technology, it can be science, engineering, or any kinds of technology that conducted at nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers. While it is really hard for people to imagine how small the nanoscale is, and here in below are a few illustrative examples:
- One nanometer is a billionth of a meter, or 10-9 of a meter
- There are 25,400,000 nanometers in an inch
- A sheet of newspaper is about 100,000 nanometers thick
- On a comparative scale, if a marble were a nanometer, then one meter would be the size of the Earth
Figure 1. How small the nanoscale is
Nano-science and nanotechnology involve the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules. Everything on Earth is made up of atoms - the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings and houses we live in, and our own bodies. While, something as small as an atom is impossible to see with the naked eye. In fact, it’s impossible to observe the nano-world with a traditional microscope, which used in the high school science classes. The microscopes that can help to watch things at the nanoscale were invented relatively recently –it wasn't until 1981, with the development of the scanning tunnelling microscope (SEM) that could “see” individual atoms, the modern nanotechnology began.
The globally booming on the nanotechnology development requiring a continued miniaturization of portable electronics, which is increasingly challenged by the reliance on conventional battery technology. However, for the near future, micro- and even nanoscale devices will be widely used in health monitoring; infrastructure and environmental monitoring; internet of things; and of course defence technologies. In these application areas, battery design will have to go way beyond today's typical lithium-ion batteries. Rather than relying on stored power, nano-devices will probably rely on novel, also nanoscale, power sources. That is the point, where the Nano-Generator comes in.
Globalization and Emerging Technologies
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| Figure 2. Worldwide spread of national nanotechnology initiatives, 1990-2014 (Source: Kirsten Rodine-Hardy Research Team 2014; original dataset compiled from publicly available sources) |
Predictions of the impact of emerging technologies, other than for near market applications, involves many uncertainties (Anton et al., 2001). Current evaluation of the impacts of nanotech are located on a continuum extending from incremental progress to a radical disjunction, which from current science and technology. Some currently envisioned applications of nanotechnology, which are seen as technically feasible, may never be realized while unanticipated future breakthroughs might lead to the rapid development of applications that are currently unforeseen.
In the case of textiles, it is argued that the major breakthroughs will come only in the long run beyond 2015‐2020 (Kaounides, Yu et al. 2007). The oft-quoted figure of a nanotechnology market worth $1 trillion obscures discussions on the high financial risks that investors face when investing in an emerging technology. This distortion is rarely acknowledged and the figure is continuously used to justify and rationalize the financial potentials of nanotechnology.
Thus, nanotechnology is viewed as having the potential to provide emerging economies with leapfrog technology platforms through the formation of new industries. Established economies likewise regarded nanotechnology as an emerging economic wave that will hep retain their competitive advantages.
A wide array of data on competitiveness and innovation-readiness provides the national context in which government bets on nanotechnology play out. New technologies are only likely to truly revolutionize an economy and society if there is a broader national base that allows that technology to spread and transform from its initial niche application. Several factors shape such an outcome, including the quality of the country’s higher educational system, business sector sophistication, property rights system, infrastructure, in addition to intellectual property outputs, such as patents and scientific articles. The figure in below shows the overall R&D intensity of the OECD countries, as well as Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2011.
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| Figure 3. R&D in OECD and key partner countries, 2011 (Source: OECD Science, Technology, and Industry Scorecard 2013, p. 50) |
The Global Result of NanoTech
Often hailed as the next “technological revolution,” nanotechnology is being pursued by countries aspiring to enhanced wealth and influence in world politics. Nanotechnologies are enabling technologies with the potential to significantly alter the modern world, from fields as far flung as warfare to industrial design to medicine to social and human engineering. Nanotech is not merely about size, it is about the unique physical, chemical, biological and optical properties that emerge naturally at the nanoscale and the ability to manipulate and engineer such effects. It is a broad new area of science, involving physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and engineering at the nanoscale.
Figure 4 and Figure 5 illustrate the 2008-2010 national investments of the ten countries that spend the most publicly and privately on nanotechnology, based on Lux Research data. Governmental officials pay close attention to these numbers. While the figures demonstrate that the United States leads in both government and private expenditures on nanotechnology, Russia and China are increasing public investment, while U.S. government spending is declining relative to 2009.
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| Figure 4. National investments in nanotechnology for top ten countries (Source: Reproduced from PCAST 2012 Report, p. 14) |
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| Figure 5. Corporate spending on nanotechnology for top ten countries (Source: Reproduced from PCAST 2012 Report, p. 14.) |
Why Nano-Generator
As stated above, the nano-generator makes the application of almost all the other nano-devices possible since it could provide electricity to the nanoscale equipments. Before it was introduced to the scientific area, the nano-appliances can only survive in the laboratory due to the limited power source supply, i.e. the electric generators were not micro enough to connect with other nano-devices.
Nano-Generator Magic Show
— Harvesting the World's Mechanical Energy
A nano-generator can be used to generate energy under any circumstances as long as there is movement. The sources which nano-generators can exploit are very plentiful. For the large scale application, wind and ocean waves could be used as the source of motion. And for the small scale application, movements such as inhalation of lung, muscle move, and heartbeat, can be collected to produce electricity.
There has a verity of applications of nano-generator. It could power conventional electronics like light emitting diode (LED), charge your personal gadgets and phones while you are running or walking. As the smart wearables become more and more popular, the nano-generator can be applied in these devices either, which helping to improve the lifetime of these wearable electronics, as well as increase the durability while in use. Here in below are some potential applications of the nano-generators.
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| Figure 6. Smart Wearable Systems - power garment |
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| Figure 7. Smart Wearable Systems - power shoes |
In Sum, science is like a double-edged sword, hence, there are many advantages of the nano-generator, while the disadvantages excited either. It is very easy to use since it can be portable, wearable, interface with biological system, and produce electricity continuously and simultaneously. Whereas, the limitation here are, the current nano-technology is not mature enough to ensure the lifetime and output voltage and power, and it also need to be protected from the effects of water. Nevertheless, we have confident for this technology and believe that science and technology could bring a better life to human beings.
Acknowledgment
At last, I wish to give my sincerely thanks to my group members for their diligent contribution to the team work and the help for the course study, I feel very lucky to be a team with them. And my appreciate also for Frank and Joy, thank you for bringing an innovated world to us.
Reference
- What is Nanotechnology? Retrieved from: http://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/definition
- Anton, P.S., R. S. Silberglitt, et al. (2001). The Global Technology Revolution: Bio/Nano/Materials Trends and their Synergies with Information Technology by 2015.
- Kaounides, L., H. Yu, et al. (2007). Nanotechnology innovation and applications in textiles industry: current markets and future growth trends. Materials Technology, 22(4): 209 – 237.
- Nanotechnology for Self-powered Systems (2013, Nov 19). Retrieved from: http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=33308.php
- PCAST. (2012). Report to the President and Congress on the Fourth Assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, p. 13.
- Nanotechnology T-shirt to Replace Batteries ? Towards Wearable Energy Storage (2013, Aug 29). Retrieved from: http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=31975.php
- Ishwar K. Puri. (2010). Globalization and Emerging Technologies: the Example of Nanotechnology.
- Ebeling, M. F. E. (2008). Mediating Uncertainty - Communicating the Financial Risks of Nanotechnologies. Science Communication, 29(3): 335-361
