Anti-baldness hat powered by body movements

Described in the journal ACS Nano, the technology uses electrical stimulation to reactivate dormant hair follicles, with gentle, low-frequency electric pulses encouraging the follicles back into action. This makes it suitable for early intervention in cases of pattern baldness, but ineffective where the skin has gone smooth and baldness has fully advanced. 

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"Electric stimulations can help many different body functions," said Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison. "But before our work there was no really good solution for low-profile devices that provide gentle but effective stimulations."

Wang’s background is in energy harvesting, having previously developed electric bandages that stimulate wound-healing as well as a weight-loss implant that uses gentle electricity to trick the stomach into feeling full. The anti-baldness hat is the latest in his line of self-powered devices. It uses an omnidirectional triboelectric generator to harvest energy from random body movements, which in turn powers the pulses that stimulate the dormant follicles.