A thermoelectric generator that converts body heat into electricity could make replacing or recharging batteries in wearable electronics a task of the past.
As the electronics market continues to expand there is a growing need for new ways to charge devices like smart watches and wearable medical sensors. However, conventional organic-based thermoelectric (TE) generators do not produce a high enough power output for use in wearable devices. And previously reported inorganic-based systems tend to use bulky, rigid and heavy ceramic substrates that increase thermal energy loss and limit their power output and energy conversion efficiency. The TE generator developed by Byung Jin Cho and his team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology uses a glass fabric that is thinner, lighter and more flexible than other devices reported to date.
Interested to know more? Read the full article by Charlotte Still on Chemistry World.
Read the original article in Energy & Environmental Science – it’s free to download until 15th May 2014!
Wearable Thermoelectric Generator Fabricated on Glass Fabric
Sun Jin Kim, Ju Hyung We and Byung Jin Cho
Energy Environ. Sci., 2014, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C4EE00242C, Paper
