A schoolgirl in Guwahati has developed a gadget that could make mobile phone battery chargers history.

Asmita Rekha Bora, a Class XI science student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khanapara in Guwahati has come out with an auto-charger. This device absorbs the radiation emitted by a handset, converts it into heat and relays it as electrical energy back to the battery inside.

The 16-year-old’s theoretical concept – backed by a somewhat crude model – won her the second prize at the 37th Jawaharlal Nehru Science Exhibition held in Chennai on October 13-14. The exhibition is KV Sangathan’s annual scientific do.

A panel of judges from IIT Chennai, said Asmita’s Physics teacher Devangshu Dev, had labeled her discovery as something that could revolutionize the mobile phone industry. Dev had helped Asmita develop the model for a mere Rs 800.

So what makes this gadget special? “I got the idea while surfing the Net for the ill-effects of microwave radiation on human health. I realized this radiation was going to waste and decided to tap it for converting to heat energy,” she told HT on Wednesday.

She used a tetra zinc oxide whisker in the circuit of the model to catch the radiation and convert it into heat. She added an Eneco chip – named after the US firm that patented it – to convert this heat into electricity. And the gadget tentatively named ‘Cell Charge & Chip’ was born.

Asmita, daughter of Geological Survey of India officer Arup Bora and a resident of Hatigaon locality here, plans to fine-tune her model in the next few months. “My model has been selected for a major NCERT show in New Delhi in 2010. This will open the door for a bigger scientific show in Moscow.’

A ticket to Moscow could make Asmita’s auto-charger ready for commercial use.