If you had unlimited access to your phone all day, how many times do you think you would check it? A study last year found that the average American checks their phone 144 times a day - and that includes students and people with jobs who can't look at their phones whenever they want! 😲
With that much use, keeping our phones charged can be a challenge. It's easier when you're near electrical outlets, but what about spending the day at a beach or going camping? What do you do when you're far from anywhere to plug in a charger?
Recently, a group of scientists may have found an answer - they're using your body heat as the ultimate portable charger! This breakthrough in technology is called a "flexible thermoelectric device."
This isn't a new concept; scientists know that when one side of a conductive material is warmer than the other, electrons start to move towards the cooler end. This movement can be harnessed to power devices.
The problem? This process is really inefficient. A few years ago, there was a t-shirt prototype that could charge a small LED light, but you had to go for a run to make it work. (Hard pass. 😂) Other examples were bulky, expensive, or relied on toxic materials like tellurium to work.
With the flexible thermoelectric device, scientists fixed many of those problems. They used super-thin sheet of nano crystals to create a more flexible and effective body heat generator.
And it doesn’t stop with phone chargers. The science community is already brainstorming other ways to use this tech. It could:
It’s so cool to imagine how these breakthroughs in science could transform everyday life. Maybe in a few years, we’ll all be charging our devices as we walk around in our wearable climate control!
Looking into using body heat as an energy source got me thinking about other forms of alternate energy. The graphs below show changes in how we produce electricity over the last 20 years:
If I brought these graphs to my classroom, here are some questions I'd have to go along with them:
💡 How has the use of coal changed according to this graph? In the year 2000, about 38% of the world's energy was derived from coal. A small decrease in the use of this fossil fuel has taken place, and about 34% of our energy still came from coal in 2024.
💡 Which renewable energy sources have increased between the years 2000 and 2024? Solar energy use has increased from 0% to about 7%, and wind energy has increased from 0.2% to about 8%.
💡 Which energy sources have decreased since the year 2000? Coal use and gas use have decreased slightly since the year 2000. Nuclear energy appears to have decreased the most, from about 17% in 2000 to less than 10% in 2024.