Embedded batteries in your shoes !

The big idea...

Kenyan Anthony Mutua manage to transform the pressure energy your foot is creating on your shoe when walking/running in electricity. This electricity can be directly used for charging little accessories (watch, phone, light) or be stocked.

Sport Potential Applications
Jogging/running/biking/trailing/... any kind of long time exercises using shoes.
Ex. : Long Distance Trail : Use of the electricity for GPS localisation + emergency system + lighting system

Next Steps :
improve the quantity of power it can generate (phsical limitations of piezoelectric crystals)
The convenience of use (ie needs wire to connect your shoes to your phone...)

Have you ever been out of battery on your phone, you GPS watch, your lights during a long run outside? Well, this bad situation is nearly part of past...

He is 24 years old. He is a Kenyan student. And he found a way to recharge his cell phone... by simply walking... on a nanogenerator!

Anthony Mutua has the idea to use his nano technology courses he followed in Nairobi's university for facilitating his life.  Nano technology is the study of manipulating material on an atomic and molecular scale.

One of the inventions from this technology is the nanogenerator. It contains tiny zinc oxide wires that create electricity when they are bent. Five hundred zinc oxide nano-wires are placed side by side each with the width of only about one human hair. The nano-wires are placed on a flexible polymer film. The polymer layers are then arranged in a sandwich-like structure to create a nanogenerator. One zinc oxide wire creates a small amount of electricity, but there are millions of the wires in a nanogenerator the latest generating 3 volts.

(keep in mind that when you charge your iPhone through USB, USB provide 5 volts and iPhone 4 battery is 3,7 volts and 1400mAh)

Anthony's idea : a person’s footsteps will compress the piezoelectric substance and generate electricity. This nano generator is very easy to carry and a convenient source of power for our personal electronics.

Some says that nanogenerators could be implemented within our body in a long future for powering a pace maker for example...

But, for us, sportmen (and sportwomen), we could take a great advantage of this technology by simply add it to our compress tee shirts and shorts (+ shoes) !

This piezoelectric device works well but is quite limitated in terms of production and storage. The power and the voltage of these generators must increase. Researchers hope to incorporate more nanowires on to each polymer layer and to stack more layers together to create a better generator.

The chip can be inserted inside the sole of any shoe apart from bathroom slippers and you can always transfer it to other pair of shoes. The chip can be fitted to a user’s shoe at Ksh3,800 ($46). It has a two and a half-year warranty...

Last but not least, while you will be happy doing your workout, you will also be proud to create your own, green, mobile, electricity... endlessly!

Have a nice and sport day folks !