Temporary Tattoo Device Monitors Exercise & Generates Power from Sweat

Engineers have developed a device that can monitor an athlete's workout progress and also generate power from perspiration. Dr. Joseph Wang and his team at University of California San Diego recently demonstrated their technology at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. It works by measuring a chemical called lactate that is naturally present in sweat - generally, the more intense the workout, the more lactate the body produces. The device is essentially a temporary tattoo with a lactate sensor imprinted on it. The sensor also strips electrons from lactate to generate a small electrical current. A biobattery in the sensor stores the electrical current; currently only about a few dozen microwatts of power can be harnessed. Wang hopes the device can eventually power a smart watch, heart rate monitor, or smartphone.

Transcript

00:00:00 in the future your workout could power your body and your smartphone researchers in California have developed a device that can monitor your workout progress and produce power from perspiration Dr Joseph Wang and his team at the University of California San Diego showed off their invention at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco the

00:00:20 device works by measuring a chemical called lactate that is naturally present in sweat generally the more intense the workout the more lactate your body produces doctors measure lactate level in professional athletes but also in regular patients to test for things like heart and lung disease before Wang and his team came around it was a pain to test for lactate doctors had to take

00:00:40 blood at various intervals during a workout and send it out for testing now it's as simple as a patch Wang's device is essentially a temporary tattoo with a lactate sensor imprinted on it so we came with this idea of harvesting energy directly from the body in a non-invasive manner so this is the first example of a biofuel cell that Harvest energy from bio body fluid like sweat the sensor

00:01:07 strips electrons from the lactate to generate an electrical current based on the electricity doctors can measure lactate levels Wang's team went a step further and built a bio battery into the sensor it stores the electrical current generated in the patch currently only about a few dozen micro watts of power can be harnessed but Wang's team is working to boost that they hope the

00:01:29 patch could eventually power small devices like a heart rate monitor a watch or maybe if you're really cranking out the lactate your smartphone