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mrsam
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Scientists in Switzerland have developed a new organic material that can now turn stress into electricity.
The team from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, created a rubbery material that generates electricity upon movement. The rubbery material functions thanks to the piezoelectric effect -- a concept on how movement can generate electricity.
Ultimately, researchers hope that the material will become useful in every facet of life - from robotics to clothing to medical technologies that people use to survive like a pacemaker.
The material will allow pacemakers to power themselves without the need for invasive procedures to change the batteries. It could probably even be used to obtain energy from the human body, by implanting it near the heart to generate electricity from the heartbeat.
The team from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, created a rubbery material that generates electricity upon movement. The rubbery material functions thanks to the piezoelectric effect -- a concept on how movement can generate electricity.
Ultimately, researchers hope that the material will become useful in every facet of life - from robotics to clothing to medical technologies that people use to survive like a pacemaker.
The material will allow pacemakers to power themselves without the need for invasive procedures to change the batteries. It could probably even be used to obtain energy from the human body, by implanting it near the heart to generate electricity from the heartbeat.
