Wireless charging has some advantages compared to traditional charging in which we have to connect the mobile through a physical port to the current, but it still has a long way to go so that this label really represents a revolutionary leap. Until now, the mobile phone needs to be in contact with the wireless charger, but this may not be the case in the not too distant future. MIT researchers have laid the foundations for a system that could take advantage of WiFi signals to recharge the mobile. Of course, graphene would have an important role.
Any device that emits WiFi signals also emits terahertz waves , sub-millimeter radiation, or tremendously high frequency known as T-rays (its frequency range is between 300 GHz and 3 THz). This radiation is also generated by almost anything with temperature, such as our own bodies or some objects that surround us. That is the starting point of MIT.
Terahertz waves to recharge mobiles or anything
Terahertz waves could be used as an alternative power source. MIT asks us to imagine a mobile phone that passively absorbs T-rays and uses them to charge its battery. However, to date there is no practical way to capture them and turn them into something that can be exploited.
This is precisely where MIT comes in with its idea that, according to them, allows us to convert environmental T-rays into electricity to power the devices we have at home. Its design is based on the atomic behavior of graphene , the material from which we have long expected great things. Researchers have found that by combining graphene with boron nitride, the electrons in the former deflect their motion in the same direction. Any T-ray within reach could then “flow” in one direction just like direct current.
The researchers published the results of their research last Friday in Science Advances and are currently working on experimental projects to bring the design to a physical device. Hiroki Isobe , project leader, points out that we are surrounded by T-rays and that, if we can turn them into a source of energy, we may completely change our lives.
Converting the waves around us into energy sources is not new to researchers. These have spent years looking for ways to take advantage of radio waves to create new energy sources. However, until now no one had successfully applied the studies to T-rays.
Source> MIT