US scientists report that they have developed a new device that can be worn around the finger as an adhesive tape, capable of collecting sweat during sleep and using it to generate energy.
And the British newspaper “Daily Mail” quoted the developers of the device at the University of California San Diego, saying that their prototype of the device stores little energy currently, and requires three weeks of continuous wear to operate the smartphone, but they hope to increase the capacity in the future.
They found that wearing it for ten hours would generate enough energy to keep an electronic wristwatch running for 24 hours, thanks to the collection of nearly 400 millijoules of energy. And this is only from the tip of one finger, while devices attached to the rest of the fingertips will generate ten times more energy.
Most of the energy-producing wearable devices require the wearer to perform intense exercise, or rely on external sources such as sunlight and others. asleep or completely still. This is because the fingertips are the most sweaty part of the body, as a smart sponge can collect sweat and process it by conductors.
The energy-harvesting machine produces small amounts of electricity when wearers of the device press it, start to sweat, or from the flick of a finger like sending a tweet. From one hour of typing and clicking the mouse, the device collected approximately 30 millijoules, without any effort beyond normal activity.
According to the researchers, each finger produces between a hundred to a thousand times more sweat than most other areas of the body, but the finger is always exposed to air, so the sweat evaporates when it comes out, and instead of letting it evaporate, scientists use this device to collect it and can generate a large amount of energy.
But collecting sweat from such a small space and turning it into electricity was a challenge that required special materials and engineering. Therefore, the device is equipped with electrical connectors or electrodes made of carbon foam that absorbs finger sweat. The enzymes on the electrodes then trigger a chemical reaction between sweat molecules, lactate and oxygen, to generate electricity. Then there is a small chip under the electrodes made of a "piezoelectric material" that also generates energy when pressed, with the energy stored in a small capacitor and dispersed to other devices when needed.
The device is about one square centimeter in size, said Luo Yin, co-author at the university, adding that the device is currently being combined with types of energy harvesters to create a new generation of autonomous wearable systems.
Print Email Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pin Interest Whats App