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US researchers have found an unlikely new source of renewable energy – a hamster. A hamster in an electricity-generating jacket, to be precise.

Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Tech is a proponent of harnessing biomechanical energy to produce electricity. It might sound far-fetched, but there is a real possibility that biomechanical movement – walking, typing and so on – could be used to generate enough electricity to power small electronic items like phones or BlackBerry devices.

“We have demonstrated ways to convert even irregular biomechanical energy into electricity,” says Wang. “This technology can convert any mechanical disturbance into electrical energy.”

The idea relies on nanogenerators – tiny wires a fraction of the size of a human hair made out of zinc oxide – that can produce an electric charge when they are bent and relaxed. The nanogenerators have an electric contract to allow the extraction of an alternating current.

Wang and his team demonstrated the idea with a nanogenerator connected up to a tapping index finger and a jacket for a hamster, which generates a current by running around a wheel. An output of up to 0.1−0.15 V was achieved.

“We believe this is the first demonstration of using a live animal to produce current with nanogenerators,” says Wang.

Extracting a useful level of current is challenging, but the researchers believe that the idea could lead to the ‘scavenging’ of human motion to generate electricity.

For further information:
Rusen Yang, Yong Qin, Cheng Li, Guang Zhu and Zhong Lin Wang. Converting Biomechanical Energy into Electricity by a Muscle-Movement-Driven Nanogenerator. Nano Letters, (2009), DOI: 10.1021/nl803904b

Photo shows a hamster wearing a jacket on which nanogenerators are attached. The generators produce electricity as the animal runs and scratches.