AÑO
2023
CATEGORÍA
Cuerpo
OBJETIVOS
Salud y bienestar, Energía asequible y no contaminante
PAL. CLAVE
wearables, stable power supply, human powered, biotechnology
PAÍS
United States of America
CRÉDITOS
University of Massachusetts Amherst
LINK
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/08/16/biofilm-sweat-powered-electronics-university-massachusetts-amherst/
Biofilm
A band-aid harnessing sweat to power wearables
How does it work?
A biofilm that sticks to the skin like a Band-Aid to harness sweat for electricity that could power wearable devices. The biofilm is made using a bacteria that converts energy from evaporation into electricity, making use of the moisture on a person's skin as it turns into vapour.
Why is it needed?
According to the researchers, evaporation is a "huge, untapped source of energy".
How does it improve life?
In its current form the biofilm produces enough energy to power small devices such as medical sensors or personal electronics, but the team also plans to explore larger films that can power even more sophisticated devices.
At an even larger scale, they hope the biofilm could be used to make more use of the untapped energy from evaporation, pointing to research that shows around 50 per cent of the solar energy reaching earth is spent on the process.