High-tech devices will be able to power themselves in the future by converting
pressure waves into energy. So no recharge will be needed. The findings, detailed in the journal Physical Review B, could have potentially profound effects for lowpowered electronic devices such as laptops, personal communicators and a host of other computer-related devices used by everyone from the average consumer to law enforceŽment officers and even soldiers in the battlefield.

The technology behind this innovation is 'piezoelectrics,' which aims to develop self-powering electronics, eliminating the need for replaceable power supplies, such as batteries. Piezoelectrics are actually materials, such as crystals or ceramics, which generate a significant amount of voltage when a form of mechanical stress. such as a push) is appYied.

There are also mechanisms other than 'pushing' that can generate pressure waves to park enerrgy in piezoelectric materials. Imagine a self-powering cell phone, for instance, that never needs to be charged because it converts sound waves produced by the user into the energy that it needs to keep running.