Tech | March 10, 2010 | 34 comments

Two Technologies That Are About To Completely Transform Electricity

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pjacobs51
Ever wonder what it would mean to upgrade your power outlets? I'm not talking about green energy. These two technologies will fundamentally change what we mean by "electricity."


Wireless Electricity

Companies like WiTriCity are developing ways to power up devices wirelessly from across a room. And you can already buy products like the Powerpad, a charger that powers up any device you set on top of it.

Wireless electricity could eliminate power outlets and electrical cords, significantly transforming our lived environments. Imagine a house without power outlets. Or a street without power lines. That time could be coming very soon.


Carbon Nanotube Thermopower

While wireless electricity might take wires out of electricity, "thermopower" would transform electrical wires into ultratiny nanotubes which can emit enormous amounts of energy.


Writing for MIT News, David Chandler explains:

The key ingredient in the recipe is carbon nanotubes - submicroscopic hollow tubes made of a chicken-wire-like lattice of carbon atoms. These tubes, just a few billionths of a meter (nanometers) in diameter, are part of a family of novel carbon molecules, including buckyballs and graphene sheets, that have been the subject of intensive worldwide research over the last two decades.

In the new experiments, each of these electrically and thermally conductive nanotubes was coated with a layer of a highly reactive fuel that can produce heat by decomposing. This fuel was then ignited at one end of the nanotube using either a laser beam or a high-voltage spark, and the result was a fast-moving thermal wave traveling along the length of the carbon nanotube like a flame speeding along the length of a lit fuse. Heat from the fuel goes into the nanotube where it travels thousands of times faster than in the fuel itself. As the heat feeds back to the fuel coating, a thermal wave is created that is guided along the nanotube. With a temperature of 3,000 kelvins, this ring of heat speads along the tube 10,000 times faster than the normal spread of this chemical reaction. The heating produced by that combustion, it turns out, also pushes electrons along the tube, creating a substantial electrical current . . .

After further development, the system now puts out energy, in proportion to its weight, about 100 times greater than an equivalent weight of lithium-ion battery . . . Because this is such a new discovery, [MIT chemical engineer Michael Strano] says, it's hard to predict yet exactly what the practical applications will be. But he suggests that one possible application would be in enabling new kinds of ultra-small electronic devices - for example, a devices the size of grains of rice, perhaps a sensor or treatment device that could be injected into the body. Or it could lead to "environmental sensors that could be scattered like dust in the air," he says.

In theory, he says, such devices could maintain their power indefinitely until used, unlike batteries whose charge leaks away gradually as they sit unused. And while the individual nanowires are tiny, Strano suggests that they could be made in large arrays in order to supply significant amounts of power for larger devices.

Thermopower could potentially eliminate batteries as we know them. It might also allow people to generate AC power with batteries, which currently emit only DC power.

You can read more about Strano's work on thermopower via his latest publication in Nature Materials.



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34 comments // Two Technologies That Are About To Completely Transform Electricity

  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  
    • the reason that tesla invented the radio was to tune into the harmonic resonance he would build in the earths magnetic field supplying limitless free energy. his tests in golden colorado are legend and some of his successes were recorded by his close friend mark twain. tesla was working on using the raido to tap into the sun's energy. he spent endless hours listening to the solar wind on his radio hearing messages in the static. much about the man is myth but if half of what twain wrote was true, he could control balls of plasma at distance, something that has yet to be recreated.

      about the new battery, can it be recharged?

    • 1 year ago
  • jadasic
  • Jahvega
    • -1
      Jahvega  
    • I would say the technologies that uses our waste as fuel is the future. So if its doesn't get its carbon from our trash, I'm not impressed. Yeah have fun paying for your nano tunes

      THIS IS NOT NEW, YOU ARE SAYING ITS NEW IN YOUR ARTICLE. ITS NOT NEW

      Wireless Electricity

      Companies like WiTriCity are developing ways to power up devices wirelessly from across a room. And you can already buy products like the Powerpad, a charger that powers up any device you set on top of it.

      Wireless electricity could eliminate power outlets and electrical cords, significantly transforming our lived environments. Imagine a house without power outlets. Or a street without power lines. That time could be coming very soon.

      THIS IS NOT NEW IDEA!!!!

    • 1 year ago
  • dynomitesight
  • jdubsy
  • ChunkyCheezes
  • lookatmypix
    • +2
      lookatmypix  
    • Solar power is wireless and does not cause any adverse health effects.

      "Oberdörster could not say whether fullerenes would also cause brain damage in humans but cautioned that more studies are necessary and that the accumulation of fullerenes over time could be a concern, particularly if they were allowed to enter the food chain. Earlier studies in 2002 by CBEN (Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology) indicated nanoparticles accumulated in the bodies of lab animals, and still other studies showed fullerenes travel freely through soil and could be absorbed by earthworms. This is a potential link up the food chain to humans and presents one of the possible dangers of nanotechnology.

      Other nanoparticles have also been shown to have adverse effects. Research from University of California in San Diego in early 2002 revealed cadmium selenide nanoparticles, also called quantum dots, can cause cadmium poisoning in humans. In 2004 British scientist Vyvyan Howard published initial findings that indicated gold nanoparticles might move through a mother's placenta to the fetus; and as far back as 1997 scientists at Oxford discovered nanoparticles used in sunscreen created free radicals that damaged DNA.

      Complicating the dangers of nanotechnology, size and shape of nanoparticles affect the level of toxicity, preempting the ease of uniform categories even when considering a single element. In general, experts report smaller particles are more bioactive and toxic. Their ability to interact with other living systems increases because they can easily cross the skin, lung, and in some cases the blood/brain barriers. Once inside the body, there may be further biochemical reactions like the creation of free radicals that damage cells.

      While the body has built-in defenses for natural particles it encounters, the danger of nanotechnology is that it is introducing entirely new type of particles. Particles some experts say the body is likely to find toxic.

      Highest at risk are workers employed by manufacturers producing products that contain nanoparticles. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reports over 2 million Americans are exposed to high levels of nanoparticles and they believe this figure will rise to 4 million in the near future. NIOSH publishes safety guidelines and other information for those employed in the nanoindustry."
      http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-possible-dangers-of-nanotechnology.htm

    • 1 year ago
  • NuclearLullaby
    • 0
      NuclearLullaby  
    • Didn't Tesla try to invent a technology that would power anything? I think his ideas would have worked too,given what I've heard about them! & I'm actually thinking someone before him had an idea to do this sorta thing! Ben Franklin even thought about the Idea! It's not a new idea at all,the technologies MIGHT & I repeat, MIGHT! Be a little better now! But had Tesla's idea been put to use the whole world would have energy & a few wars would have been avoided !!!

    • 1 year ago
  • iloveflynn
  • Eternalposer
  • zras
  • H3ADLINE
    • +1
      H3ADLINE  
    • I read about this discovery over a year ago. So to all of you who question the need to study physics, here's your answer.

    • 1 year ago
  • Darevalo
    • +1
      Darevalo  
    • i saw them demonstrated about a year ago. and i shit my pants thinking about how they will soon have to replace all the outlets and all the jobs that would come from the new tech.

    • 1 year ago
  • treewolf39
  • fun_size
    • +1
      fun_size  
    • Very cool stuff. Now we just need to implement better ways to harness the energies required for these technologies. How bout some tidal wave and more solar power stations?

    • 1 year ago
  • Jahvega
    • +1
      Jahvega  
    • None of this is new!!!! pjacobs51 Sorry WIRELESS POWER WAS INVENTED ALONE TIME AGO!!!

      Learn the Name NIKOLA TESLA. He was going to use the planet's magnetic field to deliver power to the whole world for FREE. LOOK this up! Then ask yourself why wasn't he taught to us in school? NOTE Tesla invented A.C. current, think about that!

      Just like most Alternative fuel's that are NOT a NEW idea, people keep thinking this is all new science when it isn't!!!!

      Hey you never said what the fuel was in your article? Could it be something bad for the environment?

    • 1 year ago
  • diode
  • pjacobs51
    • 0
      pjacobs51  
    • Jahvega:

      Yes I'm quite aware of Nicola Tesla and how his dream was killed by American greed, as mentioned below by s_peak. But "new" isn't mentioned in the headline, although I suspect carbon nanotube thermo power is quite new.

    • 1 year ago
  • Andrew_Douglas
  • Jahvega
    • 0
      Jahvega  
    • pjacobs51:

      The title suggest that this is new technology. Which the wireless idea is not new, no matter what you use to conduct the wireless idea. That like me re-inventing the radio.

      The Nano technology that you are showing is based of principles that are not new.

      If you now about Tesla why write the headline the way you did? Unless it was to grab attention; in which, you are successful at doing.

      Plus who cares how high tech it is if it's still working with fuel that is damaging to our world and would probable cost an arm and leg.

      In any case, good story, keep these idea coming....Me, I will say what will create more conversing amongst your readers, Please don't take me as an offensive, but if I can't through something into the fire to get the flames to dance brighter, then why say anything at all.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
  • SalvadoreSouza
  • CalgarC
  • JanforGore
    • -2
      JanforGore  
    • Yes, Yes, and I'm sure it will be available and affordable by next year. No? Everything "sounds" good but we never see it coming to fruition. And still, the sun shines over our heads and no one gives a damn about utilizing what we already have NOW.

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
    • +2
      fun_size  
    • JanforGore:

      "Everything "sounds" good but we never see it coming to fruition."

      Jeez Jan pessimistic much? It wasnt all that long ago that cell phones didnt exist and now everyone and their children have one. This technology will be slow to catch on but once it does there will be a major revolution in how we live our lives. Now we just need to get started on producing more green energy to power these technologies...

    • 1 year ago
  • pjacobs51
    • +1
      pjacobs51  
    • Image
    • JanforGore:

      No one gives a damn about utilizing what we already have NOW???

      I would have to say plenty of people give a damn, and the combination of these technologies will be our future.

    • 1 year ago
  • ChunkyCheezes
  • s_peak
    • +5
      s_peak  
    • Tesla had wireless electricity figured out and was using it to power a car before there was even a combustion engine to speak of. JP Morgan destroyed Tesla's dream of free energy for all because he wanted to sell power poles... and now here we are... trying to figure out how to get back there.

    • 1 year ago
  • Jahvega
  • ChunkyCheezes
  • Trauzer
    • 0
      Trauzer  
    • s_peak:

      Big business has its interests, and isn't afraid to kill new ideas that are a threat to their current or future business models. They killed Tesla's idea by flexing their monetary might, and similarly with the electric car, but hopefully these two ideas will enter the commercial marketplace and, you know, benefit consumers.

    • 1 year ago
  • artemis6
  • SmoothOpMusik
  • 0roburos
    • +1
      0roburos  
    • Would love to say that im surprised that im the first to comment on this, but alas the mass of the inter-web is apparently on Chatt roullette.. Graphene is the new silicone, and can be "Printed" on boards simply, faster electron transmission, lower temp computers, faster chips.. cant wait till its real..

    • 1 year ago
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