It takes a lot of energy to keep the human body warm. So why not harness that power? The Berkeley Lab at UC Berkeley plans to lace silicon nanowires into a power-jacket. The excess heat from the human body would be used to recharge portable electronic devices, such as cell-phones, PSP’s and laptops.

The process being developed is called “electroless etching,” where rough silicon nanowires are synthesized with silver ions on a flat wafer surface. These wafers would be woven into coats and the excess warmth given off by the body would be transformed into energy.

Thermoelectric materials have been around for a long time. Scientists are just beginning to find a way to make them efficient enough to prove practical. That’s because silicon is a poor conductor of heat at room temperature. The lab has found a solution, reduce the size of the nanowires and combine a flat surface with a heat conducting material.

Don’t expect to pick up this coat next week. The lab still needs to find industrial partners to put all this research to use in the commercial world. With a little luck, we might just have a solution for keeping all of our gadgets at full power, even on the go.

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