What is it about?
Ferroelectret nanogenerators convert mechanical energy to electricity and back — but their bidirectional nature had not been exploited for audio. We showed that a thin-film FENG patch works as both a flexible loudspeaker and a microphone: driven electrically it emits sound; excited by sound it generates a signal, self-powered. We characterized sound pressure level across space and frequency for three device configurations, and validated the concept in three integrated systems: a music-playing flag, a sound-recording film, and a flexible microphone patch for security applications.
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Why is it important?
Audio transducers that are paper-thin, flexible, and dual-functional enable acoustics to move into places rigid speakers cannot go — wearable communication, smart textiles, flexible security systems, and biomedical acoustics. The self-powered receiving mode removes batteries from the sensing side entirely.
Perspectives
This dual-functional nanogenerator acoustic transducer establishes a promising framework for flexible self-powered audio electronics. Future advances should improve acoustic bandwidth, output volume and long-term mechanical reliability under repeated bending, moving this technology toward practical wearable and implantable acoustic applications.
Professor Wei Li
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Nanogenerator-based dual-functional and self-powered thin patch loudspeaker or microphone for flexible electronics, Nature Communications, May 2017, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15310.
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