New Delhi:
Marking a noteworthy advancement, scientists have invented high-tech “twistron” yarns that can produce electricity when it is stretched or twisted.
According to the researchers, these yarns that are made up of carbon nanotubes can be used to harvest energy from the motion of ocean waves or from temperature fluctuations.
"The easiest way to think of twistron harvesters is, you have a piece of yarn, you stretch it, and out comes electricity", said Carter Haines, associate research professor at University of Texas at Dallas in the US.
The device utilises the ability of nanotubes to convert spring-like motion into electrical energy.
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In order to generate electricity, the yarns must be either submerged in or coated with an ionically conducting material, or electrolyte, which can be as simple as a mixture of ordinary table salt and water.
"Fundamentally, these yarns are supercapacitors", said Na Li, a research scientist at UT Dallas and co-lead author of the study published in the journal Science.
"In a normal capacitor, you use energy — like from a battery — to add charges to the capacitor. But in our case, when you insert the carbon nanotube yarn into an electrolyte bath, the yarns are charged by the electrolyte itself. No external battery, or voltage, is needed", Li further added.
