Have you ever thought of such a device, which can be so flexible in converting the energy generated from WiFi signals into electricity? Seeming like a dream right? But it’s not a dream now as a team of MIT Scientists have successfully launched a flexible device which can convert the energy signals of the Wi-Fi into electricity. The most surprising part of this device is that it is a low cost and a free of a battery (rectenna) device. MIT Scientists have also informed that the device is not only able to convert the WiFi signals to electricity; but also can charge or provide power to various medical devices, large-area wearable electronics, sensors, mobile display or silicon chips, etc.
Breakdown of Getting WiFi signals into Electricity
With the increasing problems of electricity slow down and lots of power cuts. The idea of introducing such a device first emerged in the minds of the MIT Scientists; now it has been made possible. Now there can be no massive problems caused by the lack of electricity; as this device is flexible enough to power any electricity based devices without the connectivity of wires. This kind of operations is mainly possible because such devices have the ability to convert the electromagnetic alternate current into direct current electricity.
The whole process named as rectenna. But here there is a slight change in the operation. Scientists have used the radio-frequency (RF) antenna which is capable of capturing the electromagnetic waves; even from the Wi-Fi which works as the alternate current.
In the next step, the above-mentioned antenna gets connectivity to a bi-dimensional semiconductor device. The semiconductor device is not much thick (two atoms thick) as the alternate current can directly travel through it; Then gets converted into a direct current. Thus, the device receives the ability to charge or power various electricity based devices or batteries.
The whole theory of this operation has been given in the journal named “Nature” by the MIT Scientists themselves. Again, another interesting part of this device is its ability to cover large areas through fabrication by a roll-to-roll process. Here large areas imply to long bridges, highways, office walls, etc.
Tomas Palacios, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US said-
“What if we could develop electronic systems that we wrap around a bridge or cover an entire highway, or the walls of our office and bring electronic intelligence to everything around us? How do you provide energy for those electronics?”
The device has still not come into the market. But according to the scientists, their experiments proved that; The device can produce about 40 microwatts of power at normal Wi-Fi speeds; and about 150 microwatts of power at high-level Wi-Fi signals. Scientists also believe that they can improve and modify the existing device into a more powerful one with high efficiency.
