Soon you will be able to use traffic noise, music, chants from a football ground and even your own voice to charge your cell phone.
Scientists from thr Queen Mary University of Londonand Nokia have created an energy-harvesting prototype (a nanogenetor) that could be used to charge a cell phone using everyday background noise - such as traffic, music, and our own voices.
The team used the key properties of zinc oxcide, a material that when sqashed or stretched creates a voltage by converting energy from motion into electrical energy, in the form of nanorods.
The nanorods can be coated onto various surfaces in different locations making the energy harvesting quite versatile. When this surface is squashed or streached, the nanorods then generate a high voltage.
According to the scientst, the nanorods respond to vibration and movement created by everyday sound, such as our voices.
The ultimate device generates five volts, which is enough to charge a phone.
