A team led by scientists from Peking University has developed a rubber-like material that converts body heat into electricity. This advance could allow the next generation of wearable electronics to generate their own power continuously without the need for bulky batteries or constant recharging.
“Our thermoelectric elastomers combine skin-like elasticity with high energy conversion efficiency, paving the way for next-generation self-powered wearables,” the team said.
The science of thermoelectricity
The new material works on the principle of thermoelectricity, a process where temperature differences create an electrical current. For example, if you have a hot side and a cold side, the electrons on the hot side have more energy and will naturally move toward the cooler side. This flow of charged particles creates the electricity. The bigger the temperature difference, the more electricity is generated.
The special elastic polymer composite created by the Chinese team takes advantage of the constant heat from your body. Your skin is always at a warm 37°C, while the air around you is much cooler, usually between 20°C and 30°C. The new material captures this difference and turns it directly into electrical current.
One of the main innovations here, as described by the scientists in a paper published in the journal Nature, is the material’s rubber-like stretchiness. It can recover its shape even after being stretched up to 150% of its original length. Additionally, it can withstand an extreme strain of over 850%.
To improve the material’s electrical properties, the team added a special doping agent called N-DMBI. A doping agent is a substance added in very small amounts to a material to change its electrical properties. In this case, to make it more conductive. The result was a significant boost in performance, making the material highly effective at turning heat into electricity.
This development marks a significant step forward for n-type thermoelectric elastomers. These are materials that conduct electricity and maintain conductivity even while under mechanical strain. Until now, scientists had struggled to develop an elastomer that was both highly elastic and a good conductor of electricity. This rubber-like elasticity ensures it stays perfectly pressed against the skin, meaning it can efficiently collect body heat and convert it into electricity.
That is going to make it suitable for a range of applications, not only wearables. These include health monitors for medical patients that could be worn as a patch or integrated into clothing. The material could also be used for implantable devices that can continually generate power from the body’s heat. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-scientists-unveil-rubber-band-generates.html
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