This Tech Breakthrough Can Let You Charge Your Smartphone by Walking!

There are devices that can replenish its energy stores via movement, but those typically included watches and lighting devices, like flashlights.

And now, thanks to some researchers at MIT, we can add smartphones to the list.

"Remember those self-winding watches that would use the movement of your wrist to wind the mechanism inside so that the timepiece would be powered up perpetually? Researchers at MIT have developed a battery that can 'harvest energy' from a person's natural movements including walking," Phone Arena said.

The site went on to say that the innovative tech used involved batteries similar to the lithium ion types used in a lot of handsets. However, it will be flexible enough to be installed in a wearable device. And this can take in mechanical energy and turn it into electricity.

Further, this kind of system can be reproduced at less cost on a large scale and is less likely to break.

"Two metal electrodes made of lithium-alloyed silicon form a sandwich around a layer of electrolyte, a polymer that ions (charged atoms) can move across," MIT News said, explaining how the system worked. "When the sandwich is bent, unequal stresses cause lithium ions to migrate across the electrolyte, producing a compensating electron current that can be harnessed by an external circuit."

"When the bending is relaxed, the process reverses," it added. "The process can be repeated thousands of times with little change."

Right now, the first generation model can work with about 15% efficiency. However, according to researchers, the conversion from mechanical to electrical energy won't affect the gadget's ability to work optimally. That's because it's "not limited by the second law of thermodynamics," according to MIT professor Ju Li, as quoted by MailOnline.

A Purdue University professor, Wu Wenzho, noted that the project Li spearheaded is "very interesting and significant" as it offers a new way of converting mechanical energy to electrical, without being expensive or complicated. It is even possible for the said system to find applications in other industries, such as the industrial and biomedical markets.

This is not the first device created that can regenerate smartphone batteries via walking. Last year, a shoe insole that can turn steps to battery juice emerged, with a Kickstarter campaign launched to help fund the project.

"The SolePower Ensoles claim to provide two-and-a-half hours of phone charge from a one-hour walk - and they could soon be sold in shops," MailOnline said in a previous report. "The insoles are currently under development and are intended to fit inside everyday shoes."

Ampy is also another such kind of device. It can generate energy from your run to power a smartphone.

"It's about half the size of an average smartphone and uses a magnet that slides back and forth through a coil to convert the energy from moving around (kinetic energy) into electricity," Mirror said. "This electricity is stored in a battery that can then be used to power your devices via a USB connection."

We'll see if this kind of device can go mainstream.

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