Produce electricity at your fingertips
Researchers have developed a small bio-enzymatic fuel cell which can be worn on the fingertips.It generates enough electricity to supply an electronic watch or small medical sensors.
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The energy necessary to recharge small electronic devices could soon come from our fingers.Researchers from the University of California in San Diego have just published in the Joules journal the details of a bio-enzymatic fuel cell placed on the finger that transforms sweat into electricity.
This is not the first device to transform perspiration into electric current.Other bio-enzymatic fuel cells have been imagined in the form of soles or fabric.However, this new invention does not require any physical activity, and works even during sleep.It is a thin strip that sticks to your fingertips.Carbon foam electrodes absorb perspiration while enzymes trigger a chemical reaction between lactic acid present in sweat and oxygen in order to produce electricity.
Placed on the tip of the finger, this small device generates electricity from sweat (subtitles only in English).© University of California in San Diego
Each finger contains a thousand sweat glands
The researchers have chosen to use the fingertips because they contain about 1.000 sweaty glands and thus produce between 100 and 1.000 times more sweat than most other parts of the body.The battery also contains a layer of a piezoelectric material which generates electricity with each finger pressure, as well as a capacitor to store energy.
Worn for ten hours of sleep, the device can generate nearly 400 millicks of energy, enough to supply an electronic watch (not connected) for 24 hours.This is far from sufficient to supply a smartphone or even a connected watch, but it could be used to supply small medical sensors.The total quantity of electricity generated can be multiplied by ten by simply carrying a battery on each finger.
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