Fiber will enable T-shirts to function as batteries

Zhong Lin Wang at Georgia Institute of Technology and Jong Min Kim of Samsung Electronics in South Korea, have conceptualized a textile energy storage device made up of zinc oxide nano-wires grown on conventional fibers. This supercapacitor is supposed to provide spontaneous recharge and flexibility to be carried anywhere – which is not possible with traditional rechargeable batteries.

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Aiming for the spectacular the team has designed a prototype of systematic fiber-based electrochemical micro-supercapacitor. It has been composed of flexible electrode, fine plastic wire and fiber electrode made of Kevlar - which is also the material used to make bulletproof vests. The team somehow has managed to grow zinc oxide nanowires on each of these substrates.

By coating the materials with gold and manganese oxide the team has further improved the charge capacitance. After that tweezers were used by the researchers for wrapping the plastic wires into a Kevlar fiber. Also, the configuration has been embedded in a solid gel electrolyte that divides these two electrodes for providing necessary charge transport. This concluded fiber can be processed into a fine thread which can be further converted into wearable energy storage device.

The researchers have opted for zinc oxide because it can be be grown on any desired substrate and functions at any temperature being fully biocompatible. Another astonishing feature of this power shirt is that it can be recharged with the wearer’s heartbeat, steps or even a light wind – which can be used further to power mobile phones and small sensors.

Via: Physorg