You can rev up a lot more than your body by working up a good sweat, scientists have discovered.
According to New Scientist magazine, new biofuel cell technology has developed a flexible skin patch with enzymes that replace the precious metals normally used in radio batteries – and feed off sweat to provide power.
The tiny dynamo has been shown to keep a radio powered for two days, the magazine reported.
"We're now getting really impressive power levels," Joseph Wang at the University of California-San Diego, who was on the team that worked on the technology, told the magazine. "If you were out for a run, you would be able to power a mobile device."
But "sweat radio" is not the end goal, New Scientist reported: Researchers are looking at how such cells can be used to track human health.
"The most exciting application is wearable sensors that can monitor health conditions, then sweat could generate enough power for a Bluetooth connection so that the results could be read straight from a smartphone," Mirella Di Lorenzo at the University of Bath in England told the magazine.
"This is an amazing proof-of-concept work," Di Lorenzo said. "The applications will come quickly in the near future."
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