Harvard University researchers have produced a "proof" for a miraculous flexible speaker that runs on ions instead of electricity.
Electricity is made up of charged electrons, which are constantly flowing through out electronic devices. This revolutionary speaker uses ions instead, and these tiny powerhouses have several advantages over the commonly utilized electrons, NBC reported.
Electrons have a "flow" similar to water, but ions are able to "stretch and compress without a problem." This quality could allow for crystal-clear cables, and flexible equipment.
When the ions are suspended in a water-based "hydrogel" they become as clear as glass.
Some drawbacks are that ions can be more cumbersome than their "flowing" electron competitors. They can even cause high-voltage fires. The Harvard team found a way to avoid these complications.
Instead of having the ions bustle around in a similar fashion to electrons, the team instead had them "slosh around" inside an insulated vessel.
"This lets the charge be redistributed in a tiny fraction of a second, enabling the creation things like speakers, which must vibrate at rates of thousands of times per second," NBC reported.
Ionic devices also have the ability to be " "biocompatible," which means they can be used in medical procedures without getting rejected by the human body.
The technology could open up the possibility of a flexible artificial muscle, a heart-pumping device, or an ultra-thin contact lens.
"Our system doesn't need a lot of power, and you can integrate it anywhere you would need a soft, transparent layer that deforms in response to electrical stimuli - for example, on the screen of a TV, laptop, or smartphone to generate sound or provide localized haptic feedback - and people are even thinking about smart windows. You could potentially place this speaker on a window and achieve active noise cancellation, with complete silence inside," Christoph Leplinger, who participated in the device's development, told the Gazette, according to NBC.
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