Electricity from the Silk Cocoon Membrane

Silk cocoon membrane (SCM) is an insect engineered structure. We studied the electrical properties of mulberry (Bombyx mori) and non-mulberry (Tussar, Antheraea mylitta) SCM. When dry, SCM behaves like an insulator. On absorbing moisture, it generates electrical current, which is modulated by temper...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tulachan, Brindan, Meena, Sunil Kumar, Rai, Ratan Kumar, Mallick, Chandrakant, Kusurkar, Tejas Sanjeev, Teotia, Arun Kumar, Sethy, Niroj Kumar, Bhargava, Kalpana, Bhattacharya, Shantanu, Kumar, Ashok, Sharma, Raj Kishore, Sinha, Neeraj, Singh, Sushil Kumar, Das, Mainak
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2014
Materias:
Article
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4069722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24961354
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep05434
Descripción
Sumario:Silk cocoon membrane (SCM) is an insect engineered structure. We studied the electrical properties of mulberry (Bombyx mori) and non-mulberry (Tussar, Antheraea mylitta) SCM. When dry, SCM behaves like an insulator. On absorbing moisture, it generates electrical current, which is modulated by temperature. The current flowing across the SCM is possibly ionic and protonic in nature. We exploited the electrical properties of SCM to develop simple energy harvesting devices, which could operate low power electronic systems. Based on our findings, we propose that the temperature and humidity dependent electrical properties of the SCM could find applications in battery technology, bio-sensor, humidity sensor, steam engines and waste heat management.

Ejemplares similares