Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Any device that sends out a Wi-Fi signal also emits terahertz waves —electromagnetic waves with a frequency somewhere between microwaves and infrared light. These high-frequency radiation waves, known as "T-rays," are also produced by almost anything that registers a temperature, including our own bodies and the inanimate objects around us.
Terahertz waves are pervasive in our daily lives, and if harnessed, their concentrated power could potentially serve as an alternate energy source. Imagine, for instance, a cellphone add-on that passively soaks up ambient T-rays and uses their energy to charge your phone. However, to date, terahertz waves are wasted energy, as there has been no practical way to capture and convert them into any usable form.
Now physicists at MIT have come up with a blueprint for a device they believe would be able to convert ambient terahertz waves into a direct current, a form of electricity that powers many household electronics.
Their design takes advantage of the quantum mechanical, or atomic behavior of the carbon material graphene. They found that by combining graphene with another material, in this case, boron nitride, the electrons in graphene should skew their motion toward a common direction. Any incoming terahertz waves should "shuttle" graphene's electrons, like so many tiny air traffic controllers, to flow through the material in a single direction, as a direct current.
The researchers have published their results today in the journal Science Advances, and are working with experimentalists to turn their design into a physical device.
[...] The team has filed a patent for the new "high-frequency rectification" design, and the researchers are working with experimental physicists at MIT to develop a physical device based on their design, which should be able to work at room temperature, versus the ultracold temperatures required for previous terahertz rectifiers and detectors.
"If a device works at room temperature, we can use it for many portable applications," Isobe says.
He envisions that, in the near future, terahertz rectifiers may be used, for instance, to wirelessly power implants in a patient's body, without requiring surgery to change an implant's batteries. Such devices could also convert ambient Wi-Fi signals to charge up personal electronics such as laptops and cellphones.
"We are taking a quantum material with some asymmetry at the atomic scale, that can now be utilized, which opens up a lot of possibilities," Fu says.
Journal Reference: Hiroki Isobe et al. High-frequency rectification via chiral Bloch electrons, Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aay2497
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 31 2020, @12:47PM (3 children)
Why would I imagine that when I could instead imagine Gal Gadot and her spoilt rich bitch cronies shutting the fuck up, whilst I get free beer and curries for the rest of my life?
Both are equally likely according to the science in the paper.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @02:10PM (2 children)
Gal Gadot?
I had to look her up on wikipedia... but it doesn't say anything about her politics or whatever.
What is she saying that you wish she wouldn't?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 31 2020, @04:26PM
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @05:23PM
Wonder Woman is one bonable Jewess!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @01:06PM (2 children)
There just isn't much power in the Terahertz waves around us -- by regulation!
For the cell phone, you'd probably be better off putting a solar panel on the back and laying it face down when not in use, as compared to this Terahertz rectifier.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @01:25PM
I for one welcome our teraHertz pico-powered overlords...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @02:17PM
I am concerned they might try to start boosting the waste radiation as a feature...
Especially if they find a way to tie it in with all those law enforcement companies trying to use local wifi signals to spy on people behind closed doors https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/133936-using-wifi-to-see-through-walls [extremetech.com]
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Tuesday March 31 2020, @04:10PM (1 child)
So devices in my home using my Wi-Fi to charge themselves will presumably degrade the strength of my signal. So either my connection speed and/or connection reliability will drop off, or I'll need a more powerful Wi-Fi adapter to compensate, at which point it would have saved more energy to just plug the damn thing in!
That's great until you want to spend a few months camping in the wilderness. Seriously I suppose it could come with a solar-powered charger (or use your mobile phone) although I wouldn't want to trust my life to one of those things.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Informative) by jurov on Tuesday March 31 2020, @08:49PM
You are imagining it would "suck" all ambient signals in a room somehow? No, the antenna can absorb only the rays falling directly on it, so unless you place it straight between wifi transmitter and receiver, it's fine. And practically everything, from walls to your own body, degrades the strength of microwaves anyway, terahertz even more so.
If you're going to spend few months camping in the wilderness with ANY health condition (heck, even a hearing aid), you'd better carefully prepare, I'm not seeing any substantial difference.