Soon you could charge your wearable devices using your own body heat

Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed a new concept of electrical energy storage to power wearable devices using just your body heat. Without any external power supply or battery replacement, but just with your body heat, you will be able to charge your wearable devices.

The new electrical energy storage - thermally chargeable solid-state supercapacitor - works by converting thermal energy into electrical energy and then storing it in the device. According to Gadgets Now report, "Human body heat or any heat dissipating objects that create temperature differences from their surroundings can be used to charge the capacitor."

Choongho Yu, a professor at the University said, "This is the first time that it has been discovered that a solid-state polymer electrolyte can produce large thermally induced voltage. The voltage can then be used to initiate an electrochemical reaction in electrodes for charging."

Yu and his Ph.D. student, Suk Lae Kim applied a physical phenomenon known as the Soret effect -using a solid-state polymer electrolyte, in which a temperature gradient along the supercapacitor moves the ions from the hot side to the cold side generating a high thermally induced voltage.

The supercapacitor can also be integrated into wireless data transmission systems to operate internet of things (IoT) sensors.

He further said, “This thermally self-chargeable flexible supercapacitor-powered by thermally diffused ions holds great potential to power electronic devices in a whole new way – without the traditional external power supply or battery replacement.”