\u201cIn the future, we want to be able to power your wearable electronics without having to include a battery,\u201d said Jianliang Xiao, senior author of the new paper and an associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder.<\/p>\n
![\"New-Wearable-Device-Turns-Your-Body-Into-a-Biological-Battery-rapidnews-rapid-news-dailyrapid\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/New-Wearable-Device-Turns-Your-Body-Into-a-Biological-Battery-rapidnews-rapid-news-dailyrapid.jpg\")
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The concept may sound like something out of\u00a0The Matrix<\/em>\u00a0film series, in which a race of robots have enslaved humans to harvest their precious organic energy. Xiao and his colleagues aren\u2019t that ambitious: Their devices can generate about 1 volt of energy for every square centimeter of skin space\u2014less voltage per area than what most existing batteries provide but still enough to power electronics like watches or fitness trackers.<\/p>\n Scientists have previously experimented with similar thermoelectric wearable devices, but Xiao\u2019s is stretchy, can heal itself when damaged and is fully recyclable\u2014making it a cleaner alternative to traditional electronics.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever you use a battery, you\u2019re depleting that battery and will, eventually, need to replace it,\u201d Xiao said. \u201cThe nice thing about our thermoelectric device is that you can wear it, and it provides you with constant power.\u201d<\/p>\n The project isn\u2019t Xiao\u2019s first attempt to meld human with robot. He and his colleagues\u00a0previously experimented with designing \u201celectronic skin,\u201d wearable devices that look, and behave, much like real human skin. That android epidermis, however, has to be connected to an external power source to work.<\/p>\n Until now. The group\u2019s latest innovation begins with a base made out of a stretchy material called polyimine. The scientists then stick a series of thin thermoelectric chips into that base, connecting them all with liquid metal wires. The final product looks like a cross between a plastic bracelet and a miniature computer motherboard or maybe a techy diamond ring.<\/p>\n \u201cOur design makes the whole system stretchable without introducing much strain to the thermoelectric material, which can be really brittle,\u201d Xiao said.<\/p>\n Just pretend that you\u2019re out for a jog. As you exercise, your body heats up, and that heat will radiate out to the cool air around you. Xiao\u2019s device captures that flow of energy rather than letting it go to waste.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thermoelectric generators are in close contact with the human body, and they can use the heat that would normally be dissipated into the environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He added that you can easily boost that power by adding in more blocks of generators. In that sense, he compares his design to a popular children\u2019s toy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I can do is combine these smaller units to get a bigger unit,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like putting together a bunch of small Lego pieces to make a large structure. It gives you a lot of options for customization.\u201d<\/p>\n Xiao and his colleagues calculated, for example, that a person taking a brisk walk could use a device the size of a typical sports wristband to generate about 5 volts of electricity\u2014which is more than what many watch batteries can muster.<\/p>\n Like Xiao\u2019s electronic skin, the new devices are as resilient as biological tissue. If your device tears, for example, you can pinch together the broken ends, and they\u2019ll seal back up in just a few minutes. And when you\u2019re done with the device, you can dunk it into a special solution that will separate out the electronic components and dissolve the polyimine base\u2014each and every one of those ingredients can then be reused.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make our devices as cheap and reliable as possible, while also having as close to zero impact on the environment as possible,\u201d Xiao said.<\/p>\n While there are still kinks to work out in the design, he thinks that his group\u2019s devices could appear on the market in five to 10 years. Just don\u2019t tell the robots. We don\u2019t want them getting any ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Researchers at CU\u00a0Boulder have developed a new, low-cost wearable device that transforms the human body<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-science","category-tech"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh-tech bling<\/h4>\n
Lego blocks<\/h4>\n