People exercise on treadmills at a gym in Seoul on April 21, 2020. (Yonhap)
DAEJEON, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — A newly developed biofuel cell generates electricity using human perspiration.
The Korea Research Foundation announced Tuesday that a joint research team from Sogang University and Sookmyung Women’s University had developed a technology that uses sportswear fabric to turn the glucose in human perspiration into electric energy.
While many studies are underway to create biofuel cells that generate electricity using perspiration or tears, most of them have been focusing on electrodes.
The research team, in contrast, replaced all components including electrodes with fabric to develop the biofuel cell.
The fabric has been designed to control the flow of capillary tubes and the speed of evaporation to enable a continuous supply of perspiration, which acts as fuel for the battery.
The research team used sportswear fabric with excellent absorption and desiccation capabilities to maximize energy density.
The glucose in human perspiration is oxidized by anodes, turning into electrons. Hydrogen peroxide is also produced to react with cathodes, generating electricity.
Perspiring with the biofuel cell equipped on the arm showed that it generates enough energy to power an LCD electronic watch.
It generates some of the highest amounts of electricity among all fabric-based fuel cells, the research team has suggested.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
Great post! The reason why I usually don’t use the gym at hotels is because they typically only have a treadmill as you mentioned. This is a great alternative and I’ll try it next time I travel Thank you!