One of the drawbacks of fitness trackers and other wearable devices is that their batteries eventually run out of juice. But what if in the future, wearable technology could use body heat to power itself?
UW researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that can harvest energy from body heat and turn it into electricity that can be used to power small electronics, such as batteries, sensors or LEDs. This device is also resilient—it still functions even after being pierced several times and then stretched 2,000 times.
The team detailed these prototypes in a paper published Aug. 30 in
Advanced Materials.
“I had this vision a long time ago,” said senior author Mohammad Malakooti, UW assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “When you put this device on your skin, it uses your body heat to directly power an LED. As soon as you put the device on, the LED lights up. This wasn’t possible before.”
