The piezoelectric ribbons are highly efficient at convertint mechanical energy into electrical. Other applications include placing the material on lungs to allow a persons breathing to power a pacemaker as their chest moves. The other piezoelectric material that we are more familiar with is quartz, in most watches. The new material lead zirconate titanate with its street name (PZT) is100 times more efficient than quartz. In an interview PZT was quoted as saying “suck it quartz!”

The team at Princton University have been able to thinly slice PZT such that 100 of them can fit side by side within a millimeter which would make Iron Chef Miyamoto himself proud. the silicon rubber that it is embedded happens to already be bio-compatible which means that it is already viable for human use in implants or medical devices. “The new electricity-harvesting devices could be implanted in the body to perpetually power medical devices, and the body wouldn’t reject them,” Michael McAlpine,  professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, at Princeton.

The device when flexes when a current is applied and conversely flexing it results in a generated current. This has millions of applications medically and otherwise. I for one imagine giving my newborn baby a jumpsuit made entirely of this material so I can power my 60 inch flat screen. Or perhaps a snowsuit for my dog which will power my electric razor. Now all I have to do is build a hamster wheel with a steak or milk bottle attached to it. If all else fails at least my dream of electric light up condoms is one step closer to fruition.

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