Device Harvests Energy From Wasted Heat

Dr. Long Que, a researcher at Louisiana Tech University, has developed a new device that can produce energy from the heat released by electronics such as laptop computers. The ‘CNF-PZT Cantilever‘ contains a carbon nanotube film on a piezoelectric material that absorbs thermal energy to bend the cantilever in a cyclical motion– an action which generates an electric current. Currently, the system can harvest enough energy to power microsensors, but Que’s team hopes to design the Cantilever into devices, thus enabling them to harvest their own energy, that would otherwise go waste.

Dr. Long Que

[via Treehugger]