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It may be coming to an end when it is necessary to “rope” the smartwatches. Chinese scientists have created a material that can make their way to self-tillet intelligent watches.
The quality of life of humans improved a little the day the first automatic watches appeared, which carried alone for kinetic energy – it was enough to “give it to the wrist”.
The convenience of not having to rope the clock disappeared with the popularization of smartwatches: like mobile phones, they need to be periodically loaded.
Now, a team of researchers at the University of Beijing, China, has created a thermoelectric rubber capable of convert body heat into electricity – which may have practical application, among others, in bracelets for smartwatches that do not need to be loaded manually.
According to the rubber in the world capable of transforming the heat of the body into electricity, which can pave the way for smartwatches and others that automatically carry themselves.
The new material, which was presented in a published in August in Nature, combines elasticity with an efficient thermoelectric conversionexplain the investigators. “So far, all high performance thermoelectric materials recorded showed only flexibilitybut not elasticity. ”
Currently, the wearable devices need bulky batteries or frequent shipments, but the new study opens doors to the development of a constant and immediate energy sourcedispensing conventional loading.
The process It is based on the laws of thermoelectricitywhere temperature differences can generate energy – Like Watt’s steam machine It converted the heat of water boiling into energy, paving the way for the first locomotives.
As human body temperature Ronda, on average, the 37 ° C, and the ambient temperatures are usually between 20 and 30 ° C, the Chinese team sought Explore this thermal difference to convert to electricity.
Thermoelectric materials have been used for years. For example, space probes resort to thermal generators fed by radioactive isotopes to obtain energy when solar is not available.
“We are the first in the world to propose the concept of thermoelectric rubber, ”he said TiredMaterials Scientist at the University of Beijing and main author of the study.
According to the Chinese researcher, so far, these materials were or inorganic, “Hard as stones”, or organic, more malleablebut with poor performance when stretched. Your team worked to create material that could bend, stretch and adhere to the skin.
“Thermal devices are like this comfortable to use And efficiently convert body heat into electricity, with less heat loss, ”explains Law, who adds that, in theory, if the material does not degrade or suffer additional damage, may provide energy indefinitely.
“It is not just about loading weather,” said Law, which points to a vast range of potential applications. For example, it would be possible to feed Communication equipment in remote areas Just lighting a fire.
