Chinese scientists have created the world’s first rubber band that converts body heat into electricity, potentially paving the way for smartwatches and other wearable devices that will charge automatically.
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The research team said the material combined elasticity with efficient thermoelectric conversion.
“Until now, all reported high-performance thermoelectric materials have realised only flexibility, rather than elasticity,” they wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature last month.
Wearable devices currently need bulky batteries or frequent charging but the research raises the prospect of a ready and constant power supply that removes the need for charging.
This is achieved based on thermoelectric laws, whereby temperature differences can generate power – in the same way that the Watt steam engine converted the heat of boiling water into energy, paving the way for the first locomotives.
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Since the human body temperature is usually around 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit) and ambient temperatures typically range from 20 to 30 degrees, the Chinese team tried to harness the temperature difference and convert it into electrical energy.