IMAGINE BEING ABLE to go for a run or workout in the gym and be able to generate electricity for a device at the same time.

Such an idea could be possible thanks to a team at the University of California San Diego, which has developed a temporary tattoo-like sensor that can convert sweat into electricity.

According to Engadget, the sensor monitors lactate, a substance that’s present in perspiration. If the activity becomes more strenuous, the more lactate the body produces.

For professional athletes, their lactate levels are monitored during performance testing to determine their fitness level, although this can only be done by collecting blood samples at different times during exercise and then analysed.

The tattoo overcomes this problem by including a sensor, allows researchers to monitor a person’s lactate level without a blood test.

The researchers went a step further by turning their findings into a biobattery. While the charge is quite small, the max that was reached was 70 microWatts per cm2, the researchers are working on a way of increasing the level of power which could be used to power small devices like watches.

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