Belinda Smith

So it is something that can be broken down.

And it can be something that's not just...

set and forget and microplastic that leaches slowly into the environment.

It's something that we can actually use in the long term, is durable, and then at the end of its life, we can reuse it.

So how do you make nylon, which I think about as something that I would have in my running gear or my swimsuit, how do you make that generate electricity?

Conventionally, when you look at how people make any piece of electric film, not just nylon, it's a two-step process.

So the first step is to make sure you have a good arrangement of atoms within the molecules of the nylon.

Then the next step is to get all these pieces ordered.

So you'll have the first step, which is, for example, stretching the material to like three times its length, even longer in both directions.

And then that would give you the great arrangement of the atoms.

And then the second step is to apply a really high and intense electric field, which can damage the piezoelectric material, for example, nylon or PVDF or what be it.

And also it ends up becoming a very energy intensive process.

So you've made a piezoelectric nylon that only uses a fraction of the energy to make, and you've brought some into the studio with you.

Can I have a look, please?

Yep.

So here you go.

Oh, it's in a little Petri dish.

A little Petri dish.

So these are squares of clear film, each about the size of a fingernail.

It feels not quite as flimsy as a plastic bag that you might get to put your fruit in.