Is this Tesla’s free electric being copyrighted??

[Sharpend]

Scientists generate power through WiFi, raising prospect of phones without batteries

'What if we could develop electronic systems that we wrap around a bridge or cover an entire highway, or the walls of our office and bring electronic intelligence to everything around us?'

Scientists have made a huge breakthrough that allows them to convert radio signals into power.

The discovery could allow for phones and other devices that don't use batteries - as well as entirely new ways of using smart technologies.

Scientists in the US developed the device, known as a "rectenna", from a semiconductor just a few atoms thick.

Wi-fi signals captured by an integrated antenna are transformed into a DC current suitable for electronic circuits.

The device could be used to provide battery-less power for smartphones, laptops, medical devices and wearable technology, according to the US-led team.

Gadgets and tech news in pictures

Because of its flexibility, it could also be fabricated to cover large areas.

This has major implications for the future of "electronic intelligence", say the scientists.

Professor Tomas Palacios, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Microsystems Technology Laboratories Centre for Graphene Devices and 2D Systems, said: "What if we could develop electronic systems that we wrap around a bridge or cover an entire highway, or the walls of our office and bring electronic intelligence to everything around us? How do you provide energy for those electronics?

"We have come up with a new way to power the electronics systems of the future - by harvesting wi-fi energy in a way that's easily integrated in large areas - to bring intelligence to every object around us."

In experiments, the rectenna generated about 40 microwatts of power when exposed to typical wi-fi signals of around 150 microwatts.

That is more than enough to light up a simple mobile display or activate silicon chips.

The research is published in the latest online issue of the journal Nature.

Spanish co-author Professor Jesus Grajal, from the Technical University of Madrid, said a key application could be in the field of medical implants and "pills" that stream health data after being swallowed by patients.

He added: "Ideally you don't want to use batteries to power these systems, because if they leak lithium, the patient could die."

To create the rectenna, the team used a novel 2D material called molybdenum disulphide, which at three atoms thick is one of the world's thinnest semiconductors.

All antennas produce electricity, but normally in very tiny amounts.

In a portable radio, for instance, an amplifier boosts the signal to allow broadcasts to be heard.

The amplifier needs a suitable power source, such as a battery.

The electricity obtained from radio waves comes in the form of a high-frequency alternating current (AC).

In the new device, the semiconductor converts the AC signal into a more usable direct current.

The scientists are now planning more complex devices with improved efficiency.

Any comments? 

 

[binky]

a tin-foil hat is looking very appealling  :^O

rectenna - short for rectum attenna by any chance?

 

[ProDave]

April 1st already?

 

[Evans Electric]

Tesla was a remarkable man ..I can't remember now , did the US government or the big electrical companies steal all his patents or something ?

He ended up talking to himself and feeding the pigeons in the  Park  .  

You have to be careful in what you believe ...when I was a child I read in the Eagle Comic that  men were walking on the Moon and there was a  manned Space Station in Earth  orbit  ....I mean COME ON !!! 

And Captain's Kirks crew on the Enterprise  all had small "communicators"  that enabled them to talk to each other by just flipping the top open  ..Huh!    Crazy Eh!  

They'll be digging a tunnel under the English Channel next  ...  What the hell has happened to the Emojie  Smiley face things   ?????   They've gone carp 

 

[phil d]

Technology moves on at a frightening pace these days, and not always for the better, I remember getting a mobile phone when they first came out, they were bloody expensive, as were the calls, iircit was something like £1 a minute, and as for calling a mobile, well, lets not go there! I only got one at the time because, as my mum used to say,'I had more money than sense' and just for once in my life I wanted to have something before the rest of the lads. I remember my mum having a go of it and being amazed that you could actually ring anyone even if you were stood in a field. She must have driven all her friends daft, "do you know, my son's just got one of those new mobile phone things" she'd constantly tell people, and some years later when I bought a Landrover Discovery, that too was another great source of pride to her, she thought only people with money owned one and insisted I drove her to the pub one lunchtime, so all her friends could see her getting out of her son's 'posh car'.

I remember seeing CD's on Tomorrows World, "nah, can't see that in my lifetime" I remarked to somebody. I know a lot of us will have had fathers, or grandfathers who were 'on the tools', can you imagine how they felt when they first saw an electric hammer drill, or how they'd feel if they got hold of one of the big cordless sds drills that we take for granted these days.

 

[Tony S]

I’ve become something of a luddite with new technology. I have a smart phone, I haven’t got a bloody clue how to make full use of it. The washing machine and the dryer confuse me with numerous programs.

I used to think nothing of changing PLC programs on the fly while the plant was running, that confidence has gone.