Sweat-powered battery gets charge from silver flakes

The burgeoning world of sweat-powered wearables now includes a prototype battery from Singapore consisting of printed silver flake electrodes that generate electricity in the presence of sweat.   

The soft and stretchable battery has been designed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).

Measuring 2cm by 2 cm, the flat battery is fixed to a flexible and sweat absorbent textile that is stretchable and attachable to wearable devices, like watches, wrist bands or arm straps.

To demonstrate its potential use when it becomes incorporated in wearable biosensors and other electronic devices, the team of scientists tested their device with artificial human sweat.

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In a separate trial, the team reported that an individual wearing the battery around their wrist and cycling on a stationary bicycle for 30 minutes was able to generate a voltage of 4.2V and output power of 3.9mW that was sufficient to power a commercial temperature sensor and send the data continuously to a smartphone via Bluetooth.

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