Piezoelectric Nanofiber Electricity Shoes PROTOTYPE #1

Nanotechnology can help us produce green energy through the science of piezoelectricity, which is essentially electricity produced through mechanical stress (the work done by gravity on the soles of your shoes). In the future, I hope to come up with something simple and cheap that everyone can make; so that just by walking, one would be able to charge their phone, or generate electricity and store in batteries. Please feel free to take my idea and experiment with it as it is currently a work in progress.

Disclaimer! --> I created this instructable before perfecting the invention, it does work but the electricity produced by the piezoelectric effect is actually too weak. This invention is still a work in progress as I will be experimenting with different (and more efficient) materials. Thank you!!

Step 1: Gather Materials

- Shoes with penetrable soles and no heels

- Barium Titanate (99.99%)

- Methanol solution

- Copper Sheets

- Electrode wires

- Hollow attachable heel

- Chargeable battery that fits in hollow heel

Step 2: Add a Few Drops of Methanol Solution Onto Your Copper Sheet

This is just the solution for the powder so you can spread the titanate all over the surface of the copper plate, later on your alcohol will evaporate off.

Step 3: Spread Your Powder Over the Surface of Your Copper Plate

Wait till it has dried ( which may take some time) but this essentially means that your alcohol has evaporated and you can move onto the next step because you should be left with a thin layer of Barium titanate.

Step 4: Put on the Other Copper Plate

Make sure you leave a little surface of copper hanging out on each cell, this is where your electrode will clip onto, barium titanate is your piezoelectric substance that you're using so as the material is sandwiched between two conductive plates it will produce a voltage, this is your nanofiber-based piezoelectric energy generator that has a scalable power, I recommend you make eight of these cells for the shoes because it's essentially an green electrical device that scavenges mechanical energy from its environment, and so you could produce a good amount of pure green energy by just walking around!

Step 5: Add Your Electrodes

This will allow the electricity generated through your mechanical pressure to be sent to the battery, but first you need to check it.

Step 6: Check Your Voltage

You can do guess and check work to see whether you're satisfied with the amount of energy your cell produces under mechanical stress.

Step 7: Mount the Cell on the Inside Ball of Your Shoe, Then Drill a Hole Through the Rubber Soles

The ball of your shoe is on the inside where the heel will go, layer cells on top of each other to generate more force. To make the design more comfortable, add padding over the shoe, then string the wires through the drilled hole in the sole.

Step 8: Transform Your Hollow Heel Into a Rechargeable Battery

for the sake of prototyping I just bought multiple tiny rechargeable batteries and had the wires connect through there and then it looks like a heel, but you can open it up and use the batteries to charge your phone.