VitalWear

Fabricating Textile-Based Biofuel Cells Towards Sweat-Powered Wearables

We present VitalWear, a textile-based approach for fabricating biofuel cells that harness human sweat to generate electrical energy. The fabrication approach leverages layered stencil printing with functional inks on substrate textiles. We present textile-based garment integrations that generate power from perspiration in daily activities. We discuss the unique wearability factors for sweat-powered wearables, focusing on the balance between comfort and energy performance. This exploration opens avenues for fabricating textile-based biofuel cells to harvest sweat as an energy source for wearable computing.

Keywords: sweat, biofuel cell, energy harvesting
Project Credits: Jingwen Zhu, Pin-Sung Ku, Kaitlyn Beiler, Ruth Zhao, Lily Winagle, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao✉
Publication: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) 2025 PDF | DOI

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation IIS-2047249, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability Academic Venture Fund and AATCC Foundation Student Research Support Grant.

Design Examples