PHOTO COURTESY ADHIRA TIPPUR
Researchers at UTRGV are developing a flexible device that converts everyday motion into electrical energy, a project aimed at creating sustainable, self-powered technologies for future use.
The research centers on piezoelectric nanogenerators, thin, flexible materials that produce electricity when pressed, bent or vibrated, with potential applications ranging from wearable sensors to smart infrastructure. The study was published Nov. 24, 2024, in ACS Applied Engineering Materials.
“Whenever you give force or stress to piezoelectric material, it produces electricity,” said Swati Mohan, a lecturer for the School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences.
Mohan said the project is changing mechanical energy to electrical energy, which can be harvested for future use.
She added the project explores ways to capture energy already generated through everyday activity, such as footsteps, vibrations or vehicles traveling over roads, rather than relying solely on batteries or centralized power sources.
“We discussed things like coating roads or tiles with this material, so when cars pass over, mechanical energy is converted and stored,” Mohan said. “That’s energy harvesting.”
UTRGV alumna Adhira Tippur contributed to the project as an undergraduate researcher, assisting with experimental design, material preparation, data analysis and visualization.
Tippur, now a biosciences and finance postbaccalaureate student at Rice University, also helped translate experimental results into figures used in the final manuscript and presented the research at regional and national conferences.
She said the broader goal is to design materials that can power themselves by harvesting energy from their surroundings.
“Instead of producing more energy, we’re essentially capturing energy that’s already being created through everyday motion,” Tippur said. “In the long term, that reduces waste, lowers battery use and helps move toward more self-sustaining systems.”
The alumna said potential applications include wearable devices, smart infrastructure and motion-detecting sensors.
“The whole goal is to eventually use this kind of technology in places like wearable devices, roads and smart sensors, essentially any place where energy can be captured from motion that’s already happening,” Tippur said.
She said she was involved throughout the entirety of the research.
“I worked from the beginning to the end of the project, from experimental design and visualization to analyzing results and helping with the manuscript,” Tippur said.
Mohan said undergraduate researchers played a central role in advancing the work, noting Tippur’s involvement.
“[Tippur] learned how to make the materials, characterize them and run experiments,” she said. “At the undergraduate level, she did very well and was involved in experiments, writing and analysis.”
While the technology is still in development, Mohan said the project still requires improvement of efficiency and output.
“The next step is commercialization, but before that we need to enhance the power and voltage,” she said.
Tippur said she hopes the research continues moving toward real-world use, eventually becoming part of everyday systems that generate energy quietly in the background.
