As people use sensors as medical tools to monitor their health, the use of wearable technology is increasing. All of this requires a charge or battery to operate, but a few researchers are trying to remove the battery. At Texas A&M University, researchers are doing this. They managed to use the human body temperature to power all of these sensors.
Although it looks very different, light bulbs and humans have something in common.
Demi Agrotech University professor Jamie Glenn said: "The average person is like an 80-watt light bulb."
Professor Jamie Glenn tried to convert the heat dissipated by the body into useful electrical energy in his laboratory. Their idea was to create a printable, smeared thermoelectric material that could use body heat to power devices such as health sensors. It can especially help athletes and soldiers.
He said: "You want to know if someone has a concussion, dehydration or similar symptoms. These symptoms happen in real time. You don't want to wear a battery-like object on your body, because if you fall or some accident, You may hurt yourself, this is a problem, so you need to turn yourself into a battery."
When a person generates heat, the outside temperature is usually colder, and the temperature difference produces a voltage. Glenn said that the key to solving this problem is the special fabric coated with thermoelectric technology.
He said: "Our coating covers every fiber of the textile, so in a nutshell, the textile needs to be in contact with the heat source, or close enough to the heat source to feel the heat."
The more heat people emit, the greater the temperature difference and the greater the voltage generated.
Glenn said: "Our goal is to design a device that can achieve even more than 10% efficiency, which means that if I produce 80 watts, I hope to get 8 watts of power."
Researchers have used carbon nanotubes, polymers and a carbon nanoparticle called graphene to improve this ink-like printable material, enabling efficiencies of up to 10% or up to 1 volt. But this is not easy.
Carolyn Lang, a graduate student at Texas A&M University, said: “It is feasible to generate a voltage, but how much material we need to get a voltage because we need as little material as possible. Therefore, we need to combine different polymers and different amounts. Multi-wall or double-walled nanotubes, as an additive material, can accurately create the best path for electrons in thermoelectric materials."
The ultimate goal is to create a product that can be mass produced.
Glenn said: "This is not a fantasy. But when can it be achieved. Is it one year or five years?"
He said that the answer to this question depends on the funds and manpower that they bring to the groundbreaking research institute.
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