The energy collector generates electricity when the user presses it or sweats. Author: daily mail
WASHINGTON, January 28th. Scientists are developing a thin, tiny portable device that generates electricity from wet hands while a person sleeps. The researchers say that a small, flexible strip attached to the finger traps moisture from sweat and converts it into stored electricity.
This is due to the fact that there are more sweat glands on the finger than on other parts of the body, the British newspaper Daily Mail comments. According to the source, the watch battery can be charged after 10 hours of using the strange device.
At the moment, the prototype only stores a little bit of power and it will take three weeks of continuous use to power the smartphone, but the developers at UC San Diego hope to increase the capacity in the near future.
They found that using it for 10 hours generated energy equivalent to 400 millijoules. And that’s just from the tip of your finger. According to experts, the clamping devices on the remaining fingertips will generate 10 times more energy.
Most of today’s portable power generating devices require users to do vigorous exercise or rely on external sources such as sunlight. But the new strip uses a passive system to generate electricity from moisture, even when you’re sleeping or sitting completely still.
The electrodes attached to the fingers are equipped with enzymes that start chemical reactions between lactate and oxygen molecules in sweat to generate electricity.
Under the electrodes is a chip made of a piezoelectric material that, when pressed, generates additional electrical energy. When the user sweats or presses the strip, electrical energy is stored in a small capacitor.
Graduate student and co-inventor Lu Yin explained that unlike other wearables that work with sweat, it doesn’t require any exercise or physical effort on the part of the user to be useful.
Fingertips have one of the highest concentrations of sweat glands in the body, he says, with each finger producing 100 to 1,000 times more sweat than most other areas.
Source: Juventud Rebelde