If the Silver Surfer and Iron Man team up, they would be alloys.

Harvesting electrical energy from carbon nanotube yarn twist

by Ray Baughmann of the Alan MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute at the University of Texas, Dallas

Funded by the Air Force office of Science Grants, NASA, and the Office of Naval Research

Science 2017, vol 357, p773

Abstract: Mechanical energy harvesters are needed for diverse applications, including self-powered wireless sensors, structural and human health monitoring systems, and the extraction of energy from ocean waves. We report carbon nanotube yarn harvesters that electrochemically convert tensile or torsional mechanical energy into electrical energy without requiring an external bias voltage. Stretching coiled yarns generated 250 watts per kilogram of peak electrical power when cycled up to 30 hertz, as well as up to 41.2 joules per kilogram of electrical energy per mechanical cycle, when normalized to harvester yarn weight. These energy harvesters were used in the ocean to harvest wave energy, combined with thermally driven artificial muscles to convert temperature fluctuations to electrical energy, sewn into textiles for use as self-powered respiration sensors, and used to power a light-emitting diode and to charge a storage capacitor.

Notes:

* "The importance of using mechanical energy as electrical energy motivates the search for new technologies”

* Current energy generating technologies do not scale well to the millimeter scale

* They previously worked on incorporating carbon nanotubes into yarn for to generate energy, but the system was not realistic for commercial use.

* They figured out that creating functional energy harvester depended greatly on how the yarn was fabricated; cone spinning is better than the standard dual archimedean

* Power generation was optimized for spring index, and stretching frequency, among other variables

* Energy harvesters showed no loss in performance following 30,000 cycles

* Their products demonstrate among the highest peak power and peak power/frequency among competitor technologies while remaining low cost.

* They demonstrated real products for generating energy from waves, gloves, and monitoring breathing with shirts.

Dinner party tag line: I heard about this new way researchers are using nanotechnology for making energy generating yarn. They demonstrated that they can harvest energy from the ocean, light up a light bulb, and monitor breathing using their core technology.

Commercial perspective:

* A patent has been submitted for this technology, but many questions remain that I would have. Specifically around scalable manufacturing.

* However, product integration and targeting the easiest market would be an interesting question to get answered.

* Here is a platform technology that could be applied to many applications. What I would do is push to build a demo product and try to find a strong strategic partner to help with commercialization.