From proton conductive nanowires to nanofuel cells: A powerful candidate for generating electricity for self-powered nanosystems

The likely goal of nanotechnology is the integration of individual nanodevices into a nanosystem, which includes the nanodevice(s), power harvesting unit, data processing logic system, and possibly wireless communication unit. A nanosystem requires a nanoscale power source to make the entire package extremely small and high performance. The nanofuel and nanobiofuel cells developed here represent a new self-powering approach in nanotechnology, and their power output is high enough to drive nanodevices for performing self-powered sensing. This study shows the feasibility of building self-powered nanosystems for biological sciences, environmental monitoring, defense technology and even personal electronics.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]