A small round lithium-ion battery has been hacked to charge itself when it is flexed or compressed, a breakthrough that could lead to a class of small, portable electronics that stay charged without ever being plugged in.
Such an advancement could decrease trash in landfills as the need for chargers are eliminated.
To prove the concept, researchers at Georgia Tech stuck one of their coin-size batteries on the bottom of a shoe. They found that walking could generate enough energy to charge the battery.
(READ the story in the NBC News)