Wearable device turns the body into a battery

Published in the journal Science Advances, the study explored how the team’s stretchy wearable device can tap into an individual's natural heat by employing thermoelectric generators to covert the body’s internal temperature into electricity.

The team at University of Colorado Boulder hope to be able to power wearable electronics in future without having to include a battery, explained the paper’s senior author Jianliang Xiao, an associate mechanical engineering professor at CU Boulder.

According to the researchers, their devices generate around one volt of energy for every square cm of skin - less voltage per area than what most existing batteries provide, but enough to power electronics like watches or fitness trackers. The device can be worn like a ring, bracelet or any other accessory that touches the skin and can heal itself when damaged as well as being fully recyclable, the team confirmed.

Xiao and his colleagues have previously experimented with designing a wearable device that looks and behaves much like real human skin, however the android epidermis had to be connected to an external power source to work until now.