Plastic Sheet Delivers Power
Published on 1 May 2007 at 9:38 pm.
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Filed under Energy, Entrepreneurship, Inventions, Nanoscience, Physics, Research.
Nature Materials annouced that Takao Someya’s research group at the University of Tokyo in Japan developed a plastic sheet that can deliver power by electromagnetic induction. This sheet utilizes an ingenious combination of solid state physics, organic chemistry, and nanoscience.
The plastic sheet, nearly a millimeter thick, can deliver up to 40 Watts of power to receivers that have a special receiving coil. The power transfer is 81.4% efficient compared to the 93% efficiency of a wired power system. The sheet has as its base a layer of transistors that vary the conductivity of the organic molecule pentacene. The upper layers have microscopic copper coils that sense when a receiver is nearby. These copper coils can switch on nearby micromechanical-machine (MEM) switches that then deliver power to the device via induction.
The picture above shows the sheet below a goldfish bowl in which is a live goldfish and an LED, which is being powered by the sheet.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” — Isaac Asimov
Sekitani T., et al. Nature Materials, advance online publication; doi:10.1038/nmat1903 (2007).
Kevin Knuth
Albany NY
