Enhancing the electromechanical behavior of a flexible polymer

Piezoelectric materials convert mechanical stress into electricity, or vice versa, and can be useful in sensors, actuators and many other applications. But implementing piezoelectrics in polymers—materials composed of molecular ...

A possible paradigm shift within piezoelectricity

Piezoelectricity is used everywhere: Watches, cars, alarms, headphones, pickups for instruments, electric lighters and gas burners. One of the most common examples is probably the quartz watch, where the piezoelectric material ...

Flexible device could treat hearing loss without batteries

Some people are born with hearing loss, while others acquire it with age, infections or long-term noise exposures. In many instances, the tiny hairs in the inner ear's cochlea that allow the brain to recognize electrical ...

Tribocatalysis: Challenges and perspectives

With an increasing global energy demands and environmental pollution, the development of alternative clean energy technologies has aroused widespread research interest. Harvesting and converting natural energy from the environment, ...

How to power electronics using mechanical motion

The push toward low powered, energy-saving devices has been a direction the electronics industry has always pursued. The switch to low powered LED lighting is a good example of this trend. Another avenue is the development ...

Spin-sonics: Acoustic wave gets the electrons spinning

Researchers have detected the rolling movement of a nano-acoustic wave predicted by the famous physicist and Nobel prize winner Lord Rayleigh in 1885. This phenomenon can find applications in acoustic quantum technologies ...

Sound-induced electric fields control the tiniest particles

Engineers at Duke University have devised a system for manipulating particles approaching the miniscule 2.5 nanometer diameter of DNA using sound-induced electric fields. Dubbed "acoustoelectronic nanotweezers," the approach ...

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