New battery converts body heat into electricity

A new finding hailing from Wuhan National Laboratory for Opta-electronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) converts body heat into technology.

The researchers have produced a patch (battery) – gel-based by nature- that produces electricity through the means of body. This could mean that wearable technology could charge up while on your wrist by incorporating the gel into the straps. It could further mean users would no longer need to worry about ensuring their devices are charged up overnight as they would have a constant source of energy while being worn, reported DailyMail.

Dr Jun Zhou deputy director of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China who led the research, said: “This technology could have an application in the future as a generator that uses body heat for powering functional electronics.”

How does it work?

Two different pairs to tiny iron-based metal plates on either side of a plastic-like gel known for conducting electrical current, that in turn create small electrical cells that is linked together in a checkerboard pattern, thereby producing a patch that can be easily worn on the skin.

The researchers even conducted a prototype session wherein they were able to generate one volt of energy from the patch by wearing it on the skin.