The Power of Perspiration
Written by Justin Arguel
Edited by Tiffany Yuen
Jan 18, 2021
Edited by Tiffany Yuen
Jan 18, 2021
Smartwatches and other electronic wearables have continued to grow in popularity in recent years. Being able to monitor your health at the flick of your wrist is looking less like some futuristic dream, and more like a present-day reality. However, the main issue at the moment is making sure these devices last us throughout the day without needing to be charged constantly. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology may have found the perfect solution.
One of CalTech’s assistant professors, Wei Gao, has engineered a comfortable and flexible electronic skin, or e-skin, that can be directly placed on top of your regular skin. This e-skin can collect information like body temperature, blood sugar levels, and heart rate using one of your body’s natural waste products as energy: sweat. Yes, you read that correctly! Human sweat actually contains high levels of lactate, a chemical produced by your muscles following exercise.
Biofuel cells inside the e-skin house an enzyme that combines the lactate from your sweat with oxygen in the air to create another chemical called pyruvate. This metabolic reaction generates enough energy to power the e-skin and wirelessly send readings about your health to Bluetooth-controlled devices. Not only does this process fully eliminate the need for a charger, sweat also provides energy more sustainable and less degradative than modern-day batteries.
While more research needs to be conducted to improve connectivity across farther distances, this invention can become especially important for advancements in healthcare and disease prevention in the future. For example, abnormal changes in heart rate can predict certain heart conditions, like coronary heart disease or high blood pressure. Another example includes how diabetic individuals can monitor their blood sugar levels at home without needing to prick their fingers. Gao even predicts that this system can be “used to design and optimize next-generation prosthetics,” building upon the platform of wearable health technologies even further (California Institute of Technology). The possibilities are endless, and who knows? Maybe you will find yourself breaking a sweat to charge your new wrist-watch in the near future!
Works Cited
California Institute of Technology. "Electronic skin fully powered by sweat can monitor health."
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 April 2020.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200422213609.htm>