Innovation Campus

ENERGY FROM HAPPINESS

Imagine a renewable energy source that doesn’t switch off when the sun goes down or when the wind stops. An energy source that is with us wherever we go. Scientist Jun Chen is harnessing the power of our bodies for wearable tech.

Jun Chen dreams of creating power from happiness. Not what you might expect from a professor of electromaterials who has published more than 150 papers in scientific journals. But the concepts he is working on possess a compelling ingenuity and the potential to make us all smile.

Professor Chen heads up an international team of researchers collaborating to refine ways of harvesting and making use of a constant and natural power source – body heat.

It’s no secret that human beings lose heat, with the average adult shedding around 100 watts of energy a day. But what if we had to look no further than our own bodies to power a range of electronics, from everyday personal smart devices to wireless health monitoring equipment?

 It’s a hypothesis which Professor Chen and his team, based at the Australian Institute for Innovative MaterialsIntelligent Polymer Research Institute (IPRI), are enthusiastically working to turn into a reality.
Read more from Jun and the team here.

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