A research report published in Science magazine, led by Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has claimed that gelatin could be used to power IoT devices in the future, using only the heat generated from the human body.
An article by Chris Edwards on the SUSTech Website said Associate Professor Weishu Liu (MSE, SUSTech) had led his research team, in collaboration with Professor Gang Chen at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to develop a proof-of-concept wearable device powered by gelatin.
The paper was published Online in the high-impact academic journal, Science as First Release, under the title, “Giant thermopower of ionic gelatin near room temperature,” on April 30, 2020
The article explained that most of the thermoelectric materials were inorganic semiconductors that required noble metals or processing technology. Researchers had focused on the exploring of new thermoelectric materials near room temperature, that utilise the Seebeck effect to convert thermal energy to electrical energy. The use of self-powered electronic thermoelectric devices required the integration of thousands or even tens of thousands of tiny thermoelectric elements of 10 – 100 microns, or include a DC-DC voltage booster with a cost of the output power density.
Ahead of the voltage match challenge, Weishu Liu called for an exploration of “going beyond Seebeck” by considering use ions and electrical domain as an energy carrier, or other new mechanisms to solve this thermoelectric application challenge. These recommendations were made in his paper titled “New trends, strategies, and opportunities in thermoelectric materials: A perspective,” published in Materials Today Physics in 2017.
Chris claimed that the paper published in Science was a reflection of many years of hard work. The gelatin in question is a high-molecular substance that is found in bones. It is sought after by chefs in a wide range of cuisines while also being an essential raw material for several industrial applications.
The research received financial support from the Centers for Mechanical Engineering Research and Education at MIT and SUSTech, the Guangdong Innovation Research Team Project, the Shenzhen Sci-Tech Fund, the Tencent Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE, the Guangdong Provincial Key-Lab Project, the Shenzhen Municipal Key-Lab Project, the Shenzhen Pengcheng-Scholarship Program, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Tianjin City Distinguished Young Scholar’s Fund and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
via: News SUSTech
Image credit: SUSTech