Nanotechnology researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have made novel carbon nanotube yarns that convert mechanical movement into electricity more effectively than other material-based energy harvesters. Instead, they intertwined three individual strands of spun carbon nanotube fibers to make a single yarn, similar to the way conventional yarns used in textiles are constructed — but with a different twist. In experiments with the plied CNT yarns, the researchers demonstrated an energy conversion efficiency of 17.4% for tensile (stretching) energy harvesting and 22.4% for torsional (twisting) energy harvesting. Previous versions of their coiled twistrons reached a peak energy conversion efficiency of 7.6% for both tensile and torsional energy harvesting. Other contributors from UTD were Runyu Zhang, mechanical engineering doctoral student, and Dr. Hongbing Lu, professor of mechanical engineering and holder of the Louis Beecherl Jr.