How you may soon charge your smartphone using sweat from fingertips
Do you usually get sweaty hands? Well, good news! You might soon be able to charge your phone with just a touch of your fingertips!
Oh yes! Scientists from the University of California, San Diego, have invented a new device that is able to harvest sweat while you are in slumberland.
All you have to do is to swaddle your finger in the wearable application and allow it to collect sweat which is in turn used to generate electricity as you snore away, according to its developers.
According to the eggheads, fingertips contain the highest sweat glands concentration which generates between 100 and 1000 times more sweat per digit, than most parts in the body.
The latest invention which is a prototype is only able to store little amounts of power at the moment, which means it would take its users approximately three weeks of wearing it in order to charge a smartphone, although research is still underway to increase the capacity of the device in future.
What is more, the eggheads established that a user can generate at least 400 millijoules which is enough electricity to run a watch for 24 hours, by wrapping the device around one fingertip for 10 hours.
Encasing all fingertips in the gadget can produce up to ten times more powerful as explained by the scientists.
The new gadget is a breath of fresh air as it produces electricity by deploying passive system using perspiration from fingertips irrespective of whether the user is sitting still or sleeping.
According to the researchers, the application contains a spongy material which collects sweat at the fingertips, the part which perspires the most, before conversion by conductors.
One can easily generate enough electricity to charge a phone using simple activities such as texting, tapping, or simply posting a tweet.
This is different from most arrayed energy producing gadgets whose users are required to turn to external sources of energy such as huge temperature changes, sunlight or vigorous exercise.
“The new gadget does not require physical activities or exercise from the user as opposed to other sweat powered wearable devices,”
“This is a step forward In making wearable gadgets more convenient, practical and readily available to every individual,” clarified Lu Yin, a doctoral student and a Co-first author of the study.