Wouldn't it be nice if your on-the-go workforce could charge their BlackBerries and iPhones without having to pause and plug in to a spare socket? Nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) are developing a shirt that transforms the wearer's physical motion into electricity that could power small electronic devices. Featured in today's issue of Nature, the research details how pairs Featured in today’s issue of Nature, the research details how pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires generate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress. “Known as ‘the piezoelectric effect,’ the resulting current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer’s body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices,” according to the National Science Foundation, which is helping fund the research. The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration, or other mechanical energy, the NSF notes, which has interesting implications in, say, a noisy datacenter.“The two fibers scrub together just like two bottle brushes with their bristles touching, and the piezoelectric-semiconductor process converts the mechanical motion into electrical energy,” said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the GIT. “Many of these devices could be put together to produce higher power output.” According to the Nature article, Wang “expects a material to be produced within three years that is fully functional, flexible and wearable.” Technology Industry