Energy scavenger collects electricity

Scientists from Korea and the U.S. have created an “energy scavenger device” that can convert both solar and kinetic energy into electricity. Sang-Woo Kim from Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, Korea, and his team made the device from piezoelectric zinc oxide and an organic solar cell. Attempts to make multi-type energy devices have struggled with transfers from adjacent conductors that drop efficiency. Kim bypassed the cross-talk by making a cathode from polymer-coated indium tin oxide treated with zinc oxide nanorods that respond to movement. Another polymer layer activated by light was added between the nanorods. The device gave outputs of 10-120 millivolts from solar energy and 10-150 millivolts from kinetic energy. For the full article, search Energy and Environmental Science, 2011, No. 4.