recycle fish scales into green energy
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Indian scientists recycle fish scales into green energy
File photo shows a fishing harbour in Munambam, Kochi, which has trouble
disposing of fish waste. Scientists have shown how fish waste can be
used to produce energy. Photo:Vipin Chandran
Fish scales contain collagen fibres that generate an electric charge in response to mechanical stress. The scientists harvested this as an energy source
A team of researchers at Jadavpur University here has developed a
biodegradable energy harvester - from raw fish scales - which could be
tapped as a sustainable green energy source for next generation
self-powered implantable medical devices.
It also has the potential for personal portable electronics with reduced e-waste elements said the researchers.
Fish scales, a by-product that is usually thrown away, contain collagen
fibres that possess a piezoelectric property, which means that an
electric charge is generated in them in response to mechanical stress.
The researchers have synthesised flexible bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator (BPNG) from this bio-waste.
Assistant Professor at Organic Nano-Piezoelectric Device Laboratory,
Dipankar Mandal explained: “We collected bio-waste in the form of hard,
raw fish scales from a fish processing market, and then used a
demineralization process to make them transparent and flexible.”
“We were able to make a bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator (or energy
harvester) with electrodes on both sides, and then laminated them,” said
Mr. Mandal, from the Department of Physics, at Jadavpur University.
Recycling value
The recycling of the fish by-products into the BPNG via one step process
is a promising solution for the development of value-added products and
also to reduce the e-waste.
The nanogenerator also scavenges several types of ambient mechanical
energies such as body movements, machine and sound vibrations, and wind
flow which are abundant in living environment, and even repeated tapping
with a finger.
Repeatedly touching the BPNG with a finger can turn on more than 50 blue LEDs.
The team’s work is the first known demonstration of the direct
piezoelectric effect of fish scales from electricity generated by a
bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator under mechanical stimuli - without the
need for any post-electrical poling treatments.
Potential uses
The group’s work could potentially be used in transparent electronics,
biocompatible and biodegradable electronics, edible electronics.
It can also be used in self-powered implantable medical devices,
surgeries, e-healthcare monitoring, as well as in vitro and in vivo
diagnostics, apart from its myriad uses for portable electronics.
“In the future, our goal is to implant a bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator
into a heart for pacemaker devices, where it will continuously generate
power from heartbeats for the device’s operation,” Mr. Mandal said.
“It will then degrade when no longer needed. Since heart tissue is also
composed of collagen, our bio-piezoelectric nanogenerator is expected to
be very compatible with the heart.”
Disposal of the fish bio-waste increases environmental pollution.
The study was published in the journal Applied Physics Letters in September and is co-authored by S.K. Ghosh.
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You can now read closed books, thanks to MIT's latest development
The system could examine any materials organised in thin layers, such as coatings on machine parts or pharmaceuticals,said Barmak Heshmat, a research scientist at MIT
New system can read closed books
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Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), including Ramesh Raskar, tested the technology on a sample of papers, each with one letter printed on it. The system was able to correctly identify the letters on the top nine sheets.
All about the new technology:
- The researchers from US's MIT and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) developed the algorithm that acquires images from individual sheets in stacks of paper, and interprets the often distorted or incomplete images as individual letters
- Terahertz radiation, the band of electromagnetic radiation between microwaves and infrared light is used by the system. It has several advantages over other types of waves that can penetrate surfaces, such as X-rays or sound waves
- Its frequency profiles can separate between ink and blank paper and has much better depth resolution than ultrasound
- The system develops the fact that tiny air pockets are trapped between the pages of a book about 20 micrometres deep
- The gap in refractive index between the air and paper means that the boundary between the two will reflect terahertz radiation back to a detector
- The new system consists of a standard terahertz camera that emits ultra short bursts of radiation and the camera's built-in sensor detects their reflections
- From the reflection's time of arrival, the algorithm can measure the distance to the individual pages of the book
- Currently, the algorithm can correctly deduce the distance from the camera to the top 20 pages in a stack, but past a depth of nine pages, the energy of the reflected signal is so low that the differences between frequency signatures are swamped by noise
- Terahertz imaging is still a relatively young technology, and researchers are constantly working to improve both the accuracy of detectors and the power of the radiation sources so that deeper penetration could be made possible, researchers said
- A research scientist at MIT, Barmak Heshmat said, "The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed a lot of interest in this, because they want to, for example, look into some antique books that they don't even want to touch."
- The system could examine any materials organised in thin layers, such as coatings on machine parts or pharmaceuticals, he said
- "A lot of websites have these letter certifications (captchas) to make sure you are not a robot, and this algorithm can get through a lot of them," said Heshmat.
China tests first quantum radar: Report
The system was able to detect a target at a range of 100 kms. (Gettty Images - Representational Image)
The technology was developed by the Intelligent Perception
Technology Laboratory of the 14th Institute of China Electronics
Technology Group Corporation (CETC).
After launching the world's first hack-free satellite,
China has tested its first quantum radar which could detect objects,
including stealth aircraft, within the range of 100 kilometres.The first Chinese quantum radar was developed by the Intelligent Perception Technology Laboratory of the 14th Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), Russian media quoted Chinese media reports.
The radar was tested in mid-August, Russia Today quoted Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency as saying.
The system was able to detect a target at a range of 100 kms in a real-world environment, the report said.
The device employs single photon detection technology.
Quantum radar is a device that uses quantum entanglement photons to provide better detection capabilities than conventional radar systems.
The method would be useful for tracking targets with a low radar cross section, such as modern aircraft using stealth technology or targets employing active countermeasures to jam or baffle enemy radar, it said.
The technology may also find use in biomedicine, since quantum radar requires lower energy and can be used to non-invasively probe for objects with low reflectivity, such as cancer cells.
Earlier, China launched the world s first quantum communications satellite, which uses quantum entanglement for cryptography.
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