devices and micro-systems,says a team led by an India-origin scientist.
In their research, Sumeet Walia and colleagues at RMIT University have
outlined the creation of new semiconducting structures for the generation
of thermo-power waves at micro-scale - a new technology that could enable
tiny power sources with unprecedented capacity.
According to the scientists, thermo-power waves could be used as micro-
power sources for a broad range of miniaturised applications.
Tiny electronic devices powered by thermo-power waves could apply large
energies to targeted cancer cells inside the human body, enabling an
exceptional level of precision in cancer treatment," team member Kourosh
Kalantar -zadeh said.
They could help realise concepts like 'smartdust' -micro-electromechanical
systems that are networked wirelessly for sensing and receiving data, for
example testing pH of soil in large agricultural fields water reserves," he added.
According to Walia, the size of power sources had not kept pace with ever
reducing size of electronics.
He wrote in the ' Energy & Environmental Science' journal: "The development
of miniaturised energy sources is a key challenge to overcome in order to
build the next generation of electronic devices.
"We focus on thermo-power waves- which generate intense waves of electrical
current by sweeping electrical carriers from one end of materials to another-
because of their potential for creating small scale power sources that can release
energy at very high rates.
"Our work demonstrates a new class of micro-power sources and shows it is
possible to obtain alternating output signals with opposite polarities, which is
crucial for developing alternating signal sources."
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