The dream of using the phone forever without charging is about to become a reality

Batteries are one of the major obstacles in developing smaller and more powerful devices.

A device only works well when there is a good battery, but if not done carefully, it can lead to dangerous fire situations. And the solution that scientists and many companies are aiming at is using energy from movement, heat of the body to turn into electricity, eventually operating the device. In other words, it's a 'self-powered' device without having to charge the battery like it used to.

According to Dina El-Damak, an assistant professor of electronic engineering at the University of Southern California, when it comes to self-powered devices , people will think of smart phones or bangles that can be used until they are broken. without charging, but for scientists, they are more interested in applications for human health, especially medical implants such as pacemakers, . El-Damak asserts : 'If the device depends on the battery, it is necessary to operate the battery, so if it is possible to create a medical device without batteries still operating, it will be a huge advantage, really affect life of many people ".

And yet, a self-powered device can reinforce the brain-brain and brain-computer project that Elon Musk and his Neuralink company have developed, which is primarily a direct-connected device. into the human brain. In fact, most current brain implant devices can only work for up to 5 years and mostly depend on battery life.

Using heat from the body creates electricity

There are many approaches to developing self-powered devices.

There are many approaches to developing self-powered devices. One of them is piezoelectric energy, which is created when you put pressure on a particular material. Another way that is more well known, is to collect energy from motion. Although quite promising, its disadvantage is that the device only works when you move (like a flashlight to squeeze a new light). And many scientists have chosen the third, most feasible approach now that it is using heat from the human body, more scientifically speaking, it is Thermal .

According to Daryoosh Vashaee, an electronics engineer at North Carolina State University , thermal electronic technology is feasible because our bodies almost always have different temperatures than the surrounding air. Late last year, he and his colleagues developed a small device that works with heat from the human body. This device uses metal plates attached to the inside of clothes or worn on a armband.

According to Vashaee, the greatest advantage of this approach is that you do not need to do anything and still have electricity. However, the challenge here is that the amount of electricity is quite small. 'These devices basically depend on the difference of a few degrees, sometimes only 1 degree, so the device needs to be really efficient to be able to use a very small amount of heat to generate electricity. useful'. It is known that the Vashaee's machine can only produce a few micro watts of electricity, far less than the needs of a smartphone or other devices. Of course, if you want to generate more electricity, it is not impossible but in return, the size of the device is also larger.

Do machines consume extremely little power?

Therefore, some people choose an approach that creates devices that use extremely little electricity. However, Professor El-Damak said the biggest problem is that the battery is 'leaking' . This means that if you just put the battery in place and don't use it, it still loses the energy stored inside. Therefore, scientists must find ways to overcome this. The University of North Carolina currently has a self-powered device development center, integrating sensors and now has a prototype of this type of health monitoring device. This device includes a large orange bracelet and a chest patch. This bracelet can track indicators like humidity, temperature and even organic compounds in the air, while the patch can monitor heart rate, movement and breathing.

Collect energy from friction

Another approach of self-powered devices is to collect electricity from friction.

Another approach of self-powered devices is to collect electricity from friction . This can be thought of as static electricity created when you rub two pieces of wool together. Scientifically speaking, it's a "triboelectric effect" or a frictional electrostatic effect, a group of scientists is combining this effect with motion to create an elastic device that can power itself. When applied to the skin, this device can generate several watts of energy per square meter, meaning it is enough to light up a light bulb.

There are many materials that support friction electrostatic effects but according to scientists, polymer is the most perfect material for this. Zhong Lin Wang, who led the research team for electrical devices from friction, said: 'The process of finding materials takes a lot of effort, trying out materials from paper, silk, fiber, wood, surface. metal and organic materials. So this way of generating electricity is more selective than other ways of doing it and it can generate more electricity than taking advantage of the body's heat. "

Wang added: 'Flexibility is the key to the problem. When your material is flexible, you can take advantage of the human skin surface to arrange the device '. It is known that Wang's team used a flexible plastic device to create a device that integrates sensors to measure body temperature, and said that anything related to fabrics could be applied: 'Imagine security systems that use sensors embedded in curtains or under carpets ".

When will we spend?

Maybe, after 3 years we will be using the battery without charging.

It is known that Wang and Misra's group is working with companies to commercialize the technology. Wang said that maybe his technology will be available in the market after three years. Until now, the only device that could be self-powered by heat itself is the Matrix Watch . The guys from The Verge went to see the demo at the end of last year and said: 'It's a big round black watch, a little big but not too big. People have tried using ice in the refrigerator to turn on the watch (because it uses heat from the body and takes advantage of the temperature difference so it reacts with cold ice). However, it works quite slowly and there are many errors. "

That's what until now, people think and do to bring the dream of a nostalgic device without charging. Perhaps it will take a few years before the dream turns into reality but imagine, one day that smartphones, smart watches, bracelets, . do not need to charge the battery anymore. Great, excellent, wonderfull. At the same time, implantable devices such as pacemakers, equipment for brain transplant for people with disabilities, . can also operate forever from the energy produced by humans. And maybe, carriers that charge backup and charger cables will not like this.