Nature and some social behaviors provide solutions that science takes time to interpret and imitate. The lotus flower is a work of natural engineering that has created a unique surface that repels the water where it lives and scavenger animals are the great recyclers of the environment, as are scavengers, the people who collect what has been discarded or abandoned. Both examples have inspired two European projects, led by the Superior Council of Scientific Investigations (CSIC) and the Sevilla Universitywho have developed hydrophobic materials (that repel water) to prevent icing (formation of ice on a surface when it comes into contact with atmospheric water droplets), a system to eliminate it from forming and devices capable of harnessing residual energy generated in everyday life by changes in temperature, movement or a light on.
The first of the investigations, Sound of Ice o Sound of Ice, is a scientific project that has developed an intelligent, energy-efficient, environmentally safe and autonomously operated defrosting system based on acoustic transducers, devices that transform the effect of a physical cause into another type of sign.
The first step in creating this system was to create a surface that would reduce icing, a natural process that can ruin the effectiveness of drones, wind turbine blades and, on a larger scale, affect the aerodynamic behavior of airplanes. “One of the strategies used to generate ice-passive, hydrophobic surfaces is to copy what nature has optimized for so many years,” he explains. Ana Borras, CSIC scientist who is part of both projects. “The surface of the lotus flower,” she adds, “is one of the references. It has a roughness on various scales, protuberances visible under a microscope that generate spaces where air remains. The surfaces we have developed are not only very difficult to get wet, but they also allow water droplets to move freely.”
Starting from this “passive surface” that reduces and delays the formation of ice, the second step has been, as Borrás explains, “to integrate a device that allows detecting the ice generated and applying energy through acoustic waves.”
Angel BarrancoCSIC researcher and leader of the nanotechnology group in which the University of Seville participates, highlights the importance of inspiration from the lotus flower: “The multi-level structure can be manufactured in the laboratory, but that idea would not have been arrived so directly if it had not previously been seen that this is how it works in nature.”
For Borrás, large-scale reproduction of the characteristics of the surface developed in the laboratory is now possible. The associated smart device has already been tested in small dimensions (in 15 by 15 centimeter formats), but they believe that it will be possible to scale it. It is already applicable to prevent ice from affecting surveillance drone lenses, but the objective is to avoid this natural process in antennas, wind turbine blades and airplane wings, for example.
Energy seekers
The second of the projects, 3Dscavengers, takes its name from a term in English that refers to the work of scavenging animals and the activity of collectors or, in agrarian language, gleaners: the collection of the fruit that remains in the fields after the harvest has been harvested. In this sense, research develops devices capable of capturing the energy that is dissipated in everyday actions, such as turning on a light or the random movement of people. “The idea,” explains Borrás, “is to take advantage of the environmental microenergy, the one you have around you in the form of heat or vibrations or even that coming from the lighting you have in a room.”
From this idea arises the development of devices based on nanotechnology that allow light, temperature changes and mechanical vibrations or deformations, which are not continuous, constant and homogeneous, to be converted into a usable and cumulative energy source.
Ángel Barranco explains that they could be the power source for sensors in buildings or farms that capture the energy available in the environment. “There are many initiatives of this type and sources such as thermal, very common in a friction process, and even that from electromagnetic radiation can be combined. If you measure the electric field in a street with Wi-Fi signals, it is a source of energy that the cell phone uses to send signals, but most of it is projected in large areas and ends up dissipating,” he comments.
And he adds: “Energy can be extracted from the human body, temperature, movements and vibrations. Ultrasound used for medical diagnosis can also be used to introduce energy into a device inside the body. The best known are to regulate the heart, but they can activate nerves and perform many functions.” It has also been tested with air currents from fans.
The idea, as Barroso explains, is that all the energy generated can be used or that can power devices. “A small solar cell on your shoulder,” adds Borrás, “throughout the day, can accumulate enough energy to recharge your cell phone. In a manufacturing line, 30% of the energy injected is consumed in vibrations.”
Furthermore, according to Barroso, “there is no limitation to the improvement in the energy consumption of devices. In the future they will need much less and it is possible that this environmental energy will be enough to serve as a power source.”
And he provides an example: “Thousands of sensors on a bridge provide local information about each point and precisely detect where a problem arises without depending on a single wired sensor connected to the Internet.”
The project even aims to take advantage of the movement of water when it falls through storm drains or convert the impact of raindrops into electrical current, which would have applications on surfaces such as windows or solar panels.
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