The research being described in this story over at The Inquirer is somewhat different than the inductive charging that Qi provides nor the thermoelectric power generation of the MATRIX PowerWatch.  Instead they are looking at what happens to the abiltiy of a sandwich of silver, polyomide, and polypropylene ferroelectret to store energy when they are folded on themselves. Their research shows that the magnitudes of the generated voltage and current signals are doubled each time the device is folded, allowing it to power 20 LEDs when pressed.  This is a long way from powering a cellphone but an interesting branch of research which may find itself incorporated into many low voltage appliances.

"By adding in a nano-generator, or to give it its full title, a biocompatible ferroelectret nanogenerator (but you can call it FENG), those swipes can be turned into tiny amounts of battery charging current instead."

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