Today on Meaghan’s Minute, brought to you by Memory Protection Devices,Disney Research has presented a new energy harvesting technology that generates electrical energy from a user’s interactions with paper-like materials.

The energy harvesters utilize a user’s gestures such as tapping, touching, rubbing and sliding to generate energy, which is then used to actuate LEDs, e-paper displays and other devices to create interactive applications for books and other printed media.

Here’s how it works: A flexible sheet of polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE is sandwiched between two conductive layers that serve as electrodes. Electrical charge accumulates on the PTFE sheet when paper is rubbed against it. If the electrodes are made to move relative to each other against the PTFE, a tiny, alternating electrical current is generated.

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