The Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia has patented a technology that could enable the first self-charging mobile phones to be produced, The Times Online reports.

The innovative concept uses piezoelectric crystals and kinetic energy to charge up the device as the person carrying it is moving around. The technology is planned to be introduced first to mobile phones but could also be transferred to any portable electronic device.

The new invention utilises the same concept that ignites, for example, a cigarette lighter or a gas oven, which, up until now, has been impossible to use with plastic due to the high temperatures needed in the process.

Nokia’s patent is based on the research of the scientists at Princeton University that came up with a way to work around the high temperatures enabling piezoelectric crystals to be printed on a flexible, rubber-like material.

According to the scientists, the technology could, for example, keep an iPod charged if crystals, connected to the device, were placed in shoes. Nokia’s patent takes the possibilities even further by placing the material within the device itself.

However, the consumers might have to wait a while before throwing the batteries and chargers away.

A spokesman from Nokia said: “Power management has been an important topic since the early days of mobile communications and so continues to be one of the areas for research, but we cannot comment on whether or when inventions described in patent applications may eventually appear in products.”

Source: The Times