This field of science wants to eliminate batteries. Already, it sounds good for the environment, actually. It is said that a cell phone battery, for instance, is hazardous to the health if one makes a call because the caller is too close to the dying out battery, and will intercept all that negative radioactive energy. That is why the elimination of batteries can also be good for health. Piezoelectrics promises to make devices power themselves. Pressure waves shall be converted to energy, thereby making recharging unnecessary.

The use of batteries has brought about several environmental problems. The use of hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, as well as toxic metals in batteries has been known to cause environmental pollution that has far-reaching ill effects. For starters, batteries ultimately become e-wastes. Either these electronic waste materials are shipped and dumped in some poor foreign country or they end up in landfills across the globe.

Piezoelectrics, therefore, may just prove to be the solution to battery pollution hazards. “Piezoelectrics are actually materials, such as crystals or ceramics, which generate a significant amount of voltage when a form of mechanical stress is applied, such as a push.” Think of the lowly cigarette lighters inside cars. One just pushes down a button, quickly creates impact on a piezoelectric crystal, and produces sufficient voltage to create energy. Sound waves such as a cell phone user’s call may also be converted into energy that will run the phone.

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Via Live Science