Energy Autonomous Sweat‐Based Wearable Systems

Manjakkal, Libu; Yin, Lu; Nathan, Arokia; Wang, Joseph; Dahiya, Ravinder

Abstract

The continuous operation of wearable electronics demands reliable sources of energy, currently met through Li-ion batteries and various energy harvesters. These solutions are being used out of necessity despite potential safety issues and unsustainable environmental impact. Safe and sustainable energy sources can boost the use of wearables systems in diverse applications such as health monitoring, prosthetics, and sports. In this regard, sweat- and sweat-equivalent-based studies have attracted tremendous attention through the demonstration of energy-generating biofuel cells, promising power densities as high as 3.5 mW cm−2, storage using sweat-electrolyte-based supercapacitors with energy and power densities of 1.36 Wh kg−1 and 329.70 W kg−1, respectively, and sweat-activated batteries with an impressive energy density of 67 Ah kg−1. A combination of these energy generating, and storage devices can lead to fully energy-autonomous wearables capable of providing sustainable power in the µW to mW range, which is sufficient to operate both sensing and communication devices. Here, a comprehensive review covering these advances, addressing future challenges and potential solutions related to fully energy-autonomous wearables is presented, with emphasis on sweat-based energy storage and energy generation elements along with sweat-based sensors as applications.

Citation

Manjakkal, L., Yin, L., Nathan, A., Wang, J., & Dahiya, R. (2021). Energy Autonomous Sweat‐Based Wearable Systems. Advanced materials, 33(35), Article 2100899. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202100899

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Jul 11, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jul 11, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Deposit Date: Jul 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 19, 2022
• Journal: Advanced Materials
• Print ISSN: 0935-9648
• Electronic ISSN: 1521-4095
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 35
• Article Number: 2100899
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202100899
• Keywords: biofuel cells, energy autonomy, supercapacitors, sweat-based energy systems, wearable electronics
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2890083