Pressing the sandpaper firmly against the cards gives them a rough surface. This creates a charge differential: positive for the paper, negative for the teflon.When you release your finger and the cards separate, the charge passes to the carbon layers, which act as electrodes. If you press your finger on the cards at a rate of 1.The simple, eco-friendly and inexpensive system can produce the same current as two AA batteries — enough to operate a remote control, researchers said.This paper system could represent the next step, since it would remove the need for conventional batteries. When two insulators like paper and teflon come into contact, they gain or lose electrons. Teflon is then applied to the opposite side of one of the cards. A small device made from household materials such as paper, pencil and a teflon tape can generate enough electricity to operate a remote control.To boost the device’s output, Xiao-Sheng Zhang, a postdoc at EPFL’s Microsystems Laboratory, used sandpaper. A capacitor placed on the circuit absorbs the weak current that is generated.
They are then taped together in such a way that cannot touch, giving the system a configuration that makes it electrically neutral.“The one that we developed in the framework of this European project is the first one to use natural, everyday and environmentally friendly materials,” said Jurgen Brugger, a professor at the Microsystems Laboratory. The carbon serves as the electrode..5 times per second, for a short period of time the capacitor will release the same amount of voltage as that supplied by two AA batteries.This increases the contact area, which in turn improves the system’s output six times. When brought together, they make a sandwich: two layers of carbon on the outside, then two layers of paper, and one layer of teflon in the middle.A team from EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) in Switzerland, working with researchers from the University of Tokyo, used these everyday materials to make a tiny device that can generate more than 3 volts of power.