Science fiction becomes reality at Beijing show
Print Edition
In US sci-fi movie “After Earth,” Kitai Raige, played by Will Smith’s son Jaden, wears a magical suit. Normally brown and scaly, it turns beige when Kitai is freezing. When he is bitten by a poisonous insect, it instantly turns white.
Now this fictional concept has become reality. At the third International Conference on Nanoenergy and Nanosystems in Beijing, Wang Zhonglin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced one of its many inventions, the intellectual suit, which has functions similar to Kitai’s.
Sensors on the suits can detect temperature, ph levels, pressure and other indicators that show the health status of the wearer. The data can be transmitted to a cellphone, a computer, or even to a doctor’s computer many miles away, so a person’s health can be monitored anytime and anywhere, Wang said.
The conference, organized by the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, is one of the most influential in the field of nanoscience and energy. Over 700 scientists from more than 30 countries attended the three-day event which ended on Monday.
Wang also showed “nano tattoos” which can be stuck on an arm and able to administer drugs into a patient’s veins, providing a private and painless way of injection for diabetics.
Also in the health sector was a self-charging cardiac pacemaker, which doesn’t need recharging or replacement.
Scientists made prototypes of all these gadgets at the institute’s technopark and they are expected to hit the market in two to three years, Wang said.
The secret behind these high-tech gadgets is an innovation called the triboelectric nanogenerator. It harvests the mechanical energy of motion, such as the energy people produce when they walk, and transforms it into electrical signals.
The technology is potentially transformative in the field of electronic devices. For example, glasses which allow people to turn pages on a cellphone with a blink of an eye, have also become a reality. The trick is to fix a nanogenerator on the glasses frame to harvest the mechanical energy of the facial expressions, and transform it into electricity to power the remote control that turns the pages.
Nanogenerators can be used to power portable devices. There are now nanogenerating shoes, suits, bicycles and carpets, all of which gather the mechanical energy people produce when they walk, run or cycle to power lights, monitor body indicators, and record the movements while providing energy for themselves.
Energy from raindrops
“Nanogenerating carpets, in particular, will be able to detect irregular movements, so when someone trips and falls, it will automatically sound an alert and solicit help,” Wang said.
This technology shines a light on green energy too. In the technopark, Wang’s team built a prototype of a nanogenerating powerhouse. It generates electricity by harvesting energy from raindrops, a substitute for solar energy on rainy days. Similarly, another nanogenerator is able to exploit tidal energy.
Ashutosh Tiwari, secretary general of the International Association of Advanced Materials, spoke highly of China’s contribution to nanoscience. “China has surpassed the US and ranks first in the field of nanoenergy. Thanks to the hard work of Chinese scientists around the world, it now produces 50 percent of academic publications every year. But how to synchronize it into applications, that’s a question to think about,” he said.
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