T-Shirt That Could Power Your Cell Phone Developed At UC San Diego

It may soon be easier to charge your phone thanks to nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego. According to a press release from the university, they have developed a "wearable microgrid" that harvests and stores energy from the human body and can power small electronics.

“We’re applying the concept of the microgrid to create wearable systems that are powered sustainably, reliably and independently,” said co-first author Lu Yin, a nanoengineering Ph.D. student at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. “Just like a city microgrid integrates a variety of local, renewable power sources like wind and solar, a wearable microgrid integrates devices that locally harvest energy from different parts of the body, like sweat and movement, while containing energy storage.” 

The t-shirt microgrid is built from flexible electronic parts that were created by the nanobioelectronics team at USCD. Each part is screen printed onto a shirt and placed where the most amount of energy can be collected. These parts harvest energy from the swinging movements of the arms against the torso while walking or running.

According to the press release, harvesting energy from movement and sweat allows the shirt to power devices quickly and continuously. When the user starts sweating, the biofuel cells provide power and continue to do so even after the user stops moving.

“When you add these two together, they make up for each other’s shortcomings,” said Yin. “They are complementary and synergistic to enable fast startup and continuous power.”