Scientists design futuristic device that turns an everyday nuisance into fuel: 'We're dreaming big'

Experts from Australia's Deakin University have taken circular efficiency to an entirely new level with their sweat-based battery, detailed in a news release. 

The innovation uses body perspiration to power fitness trackers, which monitor the exercise that makes us sweat, thus creating even more energy. 

"The device only needs a small amount of sweat to operate — only few drops to cover the surface of the device," associate professor Jingliang Li said in the release. The team is from the university's Institute for Frontier Materials.

It's called a hydroelectric nanogenerator, and it's among multiple small-scale innovations being developed to power wearable tech of the future. Researchers at North Carolina State are working on yarn-like supercapacitors that can be woven into clothing to power smartwatches, Fitbits, and other devices, as another example. 

The Deakin invention uses ultra-thin, conductive MXene nanosheets and the unlikely power harvested when sweat evaporates to make and save electricity, all per the release. 

A report from the Guardian added that the capacitor charged and powered a device after the user exercised for around 10 minutes. 

The capacitor looks like a small piece of fabric while being held by tweezers. The strand is about as wide as a smartwatch face. A caption with a photo of it said that wool serves as the "electrochemically active component." 

"Operation-wise a device needs sweat to generate the current, but since the device is attached to a capacitor, the generated current can be stored. This does not require the wearer to sweat continuously. Similar to a solar panel generating electricity, the generated current can be gradually stored in another device," Li said in the release. 

As the global energy system transitions to more sustainable sources, the not-so-obvious solutions could play a role alongside lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, and wind turbines. In France, students developed metro station turnstiles that create electricity from the kinetic energy of everyday human movement. 

Often, the innovations replace expensive and hard-to-gather materials and eliminate heat-trapping air pollution while doing so. NASA has linked planet-warming fumes produced from burning dirty energy sources to increasing risks for terrible weather that is battering locations around the world, causing unique hazards in coastal communities. 

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While energized sweat isn't going to save the world, the low-cost, perspiration-inspired innovation can play a role in a more sustainable future. For their part, the researchers have some work to do before the tech can be commercialized. The goal is to make a device that charges when the user isn't sweating or even by the moisture produced by breathing, all per the release. 

The energy-abundant invention could be perfect for medical devices, too. 

"We're dreaming big," researcher Ken Aldren Usman said, per the Guardian. 

Another way to make the most of body-ready power is to walk a little more. Walking a couple of miles per day instead of driving can cut hundreds of pounds of air pollution while boosting your physical and mental health, per the Mayo Clinic. 

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