Scientists have come up with a unit that harvests sweat from your fingertip to generate power.
Fingers constantly produce sweat, so the equipment can work without the wearer moving a muscle.
It’s common for self-powered wearable systems that rely on bioenergy harvesters to require excessive inputs of energy.
UC San Diego researchers previously worked ontemporary tattoos that turn sweat to power.
“Our goal is to make this a practical gear,” Yin said.
We can actually use the energy to power useful electronics such as sensors and displays."
This new gadget collects it before it can.
The rig was built to be highly absorbent.
First, sweat is absorbed and converted into energy by a padding of carbon foam electrodes.
The electrodes have enzymes that trigger chemical reactions between lactate and oxygen molecules in sweat, generating electricity.
There’s also a chip underneath the electrodes made ofpiezoelectric materialthat generates more energy when pressed.
Electrical energy is stored in a small capacitor as a wearer sweats or presses on it.
It can then be discharged to fuel low-powered devices.
The researchers note that strapping devices to additional fingertips would generate even more energy.
