A new material that harnesses the vibrations from a surface, such as inside a moving vehicle, could allow drivers to charge their phones simply by placing them inside the car. The material is made of a piezoelectric polymer called ployvinylidene fluoride (PVFD). By depositing nanoparticles of zinc oxide onto a thin film of the polymer and the etching them off, it is possible to create pores in the polymer that gave it a sponge-like consistency. It is this spongy consistency that...