🎉 🎉 Congratulations to our Australian Research Council (ARC) ZeroPC Hub Chief Investigator, Prof. Zhigang Chen, and the research team on this important new research output in 2026.
Published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, this work presents a soft and flexible hydrogel capable of converting body heat into electricity with remarkable efficiency. The study highlights the strong potential of thermoelectric materials for self-powered wearable devices, smart textiles, and broader sustainable energy applications.
The research team include Chenyang Zhang, Dr Xiao-Lei Shi, Dr Wenyi Chen and Dr Qian Liu, Tianyi Cao, Boxuan Hu, Dr Shuai Sun. Team leader Prof. Zhigang Chen noted the discovery could help power future wearable electronics without relying as heavily on conventional batteries. “With this gel, we demonstrated how we can turn heat that would otherwise be wasted, such as body heat, into a practical power source,” Professor Chen said, “Remarkably, a small 10mm square device can generate around 0.46 volts. Although that is a small example, it demonstrates strong potential for real-world applications.”
This achievement reflects the Hub’s continued commitment to advancing innovative energy technologies and translating cutting-edge research into practical solutions for a low-carbon future.
Detailed news: https://lnkd.in/gyzH4Nib
Research paper: https://lnkd.in/gWN5d2-f