The smartphone charger converts household noise into electricity. Free Technical Library News

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Smartphone charger converts household noise into electricity

23.08.2014

Researchers from Nokia and Queen Mary University of London have created a working mobile phone charging system using sound waves. This was reported by the resource Gizmag.

The very idea of such a system was proposed in 2010 by Korean scientists. It was supposed to work using the piezoelectric effect: nanowires based on zinc oxide should convert vibrations caused by sound into electricity. But only now, European engineers have managed to reach a current strength of such a level that it turned out to be quite sufficient to charge mobile devices.

Like colleagues from Korea, scientists from Nokia and the University of London used a sheet with zinc oxide nanorods: they generate an electric current by bending under the influence of a mechanical load (for example, sound waves).

The researchers sprayed liquid zinc oxide onto the surface of the plastic sheet. The plastic sheet was then placed in a mixture of chemicals and heated to 90°C. As a result, zinc oxide was transformed into a "forest" of nanorods. Then the sheet was placed between two gold electrical contact panels made of gold (in order to reduce costs, the developers suggest making them from ordinary aluminum foil).

The resulting prototype device is equal in size to some smartphones and can generate an electric current of up to 5 V on everyday noises (music, voices, the hum of cars). For comparison, Korean researchers in their experiments managed to achieve a voltage of only 50 mV. The source does not report on the strength of the current in the circuit, but it is mentioned that the energy received is quite enough to infect a mobile phone.

"Being able to eliminate the use of batteries in mobile phones by taking advantage of the energy scattered around is just an amazing idea. We hope we can bring it closer to implementation in practice," said Dr. Joe Briscoe, lead author of the project.

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Chronic lack of sleep not only threatens with serious health problems, but also affects the character of people.

Sleep deprivation has a "catastrophic effect" on health and longevity, according to UC Berkeley neuroscience professor Matthew Walker, and sleeping less than seven hours is dangerous to health.

“Once you sleep less than seven hours one day, and irreversible changes will begin in your brain and body as a whole. And those who claim that they can sleep for six hours, unfortunately, deceive themselves and their health,” says Matthew Walker, professor neuroscience at the University of California at Berkeley.

According to the scientist, trying to get enough sleep on weekends cannot compensate for lack of sleep during the work week. "This is not a bank. You can't accumulate debt and then pay it off later," he explained.

At the same time, lack of sleep, according to the author, makes a person less charismatic and more prone to lies. Walker also points out the dangerous effect of coffee in the evening on the depth of sleep and dispels the myths that alcohol helps to fall asleep.

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Walker previously said that lack of sleep can lead to numerous problems, including memory loss, diabetes, obesity, cancer and Alzheimer's disease, and urged major organizations and lawmakers to seriously address the problem of lack of sleep.

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