#Nanofibers #Power #Nanobots with Harvested #Energy

In the future, nanobots could swim in your bloodstream, constantly on the lookout for early signs of disease, according to researchers creating a piezoelectric power source that harvests mechanical motion. Look for self-powered pacemakers and other medical implants using piezoelectric energy harvesting within seven years. RColinJohnson @NextGenLog


Piezoelectric nanogenerator alligns 60 nanometer by 500 micron semiconducting fibers on interdigitated electrodes of platinum fine wires and packaged using a soft polymer on a silicon substrate.

Here is what EETimes says about piezoelectric energy harvesting: The nascent field of piezoelectric energy harvesting got a boost recently when researchers reported the creation of nanogenerators on both silicon and polymer substrates. The eventual aim is the design of energy harvesters that could power small electronic devices from environmental motions. A medical implant, for example, might be powered by the mechanical energy in flowing blood. Besides medical implants, the researchers are targeting applications of wireless sensors and portable electronic devices on "stretchable" substrates...the tiny nanogenerators could eventually power nanorobots that would inhabit a patient's bloodstream for extended periods, taking samples and transmitting diagnostic data to doctors for analysis.
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