Alexander Katko (left) and Allen Hawkes show a large version of their harvester cell.
When senior Allen Hawkes was a freshman, he came up with an idea to harvest energy from cellphone and Wi-Fi signals and put it to use. He and a team at Pratt have now tested a prototype that proves this is possible. The device is composed of metamaterials that are synthetically engineered to manipulate electromagnetic waves, capturing the energy waves from Wi-Fi signals and converting them into an electric current. Currently, the device is too big to be portable, but the long-term plan is to miniaturize it to fit inside cellphones and other handheld devices. See rest of the story by Aubrey Temple, which appeared in the Duke Chronicle.