Nanoparticle-infused speaker could mean better sound in a smaller package

Nanotechnology has contributed to all sorts of important medical and scientific breakthroughs, but when is it going to make speakers sound better? It’s a question we all ask ourselves every hour of every day, of course, but your nanotech speakers are almost ready. A team of researchers from Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology have created a new kind of loudspeaker that relies on nanoparticle-infused membranes to generate sound without need of a permanent magnet.

The main constituent of the membrane is cellulose fiber — the polysaccharide component of plant cell walls. Researchers mixed the cellulose fibers in solution with ferromagnetic salts at 90 degree Celsius, then left the mixture to bond over the course of two months. The remaining water was drained at the end of this period to reveal a hydrogel (a hydrophilic collection of polymers) composed of magnetic cellulose fibers.