“The friction between your fingers and your smartphone screen. The friction between your wrist and smartwatch. Even the friction between your shoe and the ground. These are great potential sources of energy that we can to tap into,” Chen says. “Ultimately, this research can increase our economic security and help society by reducing our need for conventional sources of power.”

Filtering, stirring, pouring and pumping liquids creates static electricity. Like static cling in clothing, this is sometimes little more than a nuisance, but when flammable liquids are being moved, static electricity can cause fires and explosions if sufficient concentrations of flammable vapors are present.

The modern touch screen uses static electricity to function. Your smartphone has a capacitive touch screen. This conductive material stores the static from your finger in an electrostatic grid of tiny wires inside your phone. When you touch the screen, you complete an electrical circuit and cause a voltage drop on that section of the screen. The internal software processes where your finger is and executes a command in milliseconds.