The combination of rising populations, climate change, and depleted natural resources has emphasized the need for sustainable technology. This technology isn't limited to big devices like photovoltaic panels and wind turbines; recently, a team of researchers has developed a textile capable of harnessing energy from both sunlight and wind.
The team developed a fabrication strategy that merged two different lightweight, low-cost polymer fibers to create energy-producing textiles. The first component of the textile is a microcable solar cell, able to gather power from ambient sunlight. The second is a nanogenerator capable of converting mechanical energy into electricity.
Components were woven together with copper wire. This was done using an industrial weaving machine, so no specialized equipment is needed. The end result was a wearable textile that exhibited an interlaced, single-layer structure with a thickness of 320µm.
The researchers demonstrated the ease of the weaving process by fabricating colorful textiles with arbitrary size and weaving patterns. They also integrated the textile into many common fabric items, such as cloth, curtains, and tents.
Under ambient sunlight, and in the presence of wind blowing or human motion, the textile swatch was able to charge a small commercial capacitor up to 2V in one minute. The textile could continuously power an electric watch, charge a cell phone, and even drive water-splitting reactions, releasing hydrogen.
Due to the breathability, flexibility, and robustness of the textile, it is a prime candidate for wearable electronics. Using a textile swatch of 4×5cm, the team evaluated the textile’s properties on a person who was walking under sunlight (80 mW/cm2 intensity). The textile was highly deformable and responded well to human motion. They found that the fabric was able to deliver an output power of 0.5 mW even when elements in the circuit itself drew significant amounts of power (with loading resistances ranging from 10 KΩ to 10 MΩ).
Overall, the fabric doesn't generate a lot of electricity. But it has the advantage of being able to generate electricity where it may be needed.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/new-fabric-generates-electricity-from-sunlight-and-wind/
The team developed a fabrication strategy that merged two different lightweight, low-cost polymer fibers to create energy-producing textiles. The first component of the textile is a microcable solar cell, able to gather power from ambient sunlight. The second is a nanogenerator capable of converting mechanical energy into electricity.
Components were woven together with copper wire. This was done using an industrial weaving machine, so no specialized equipment is needed. The end result was a wearable textile that exhibited an interlaced, single-layer structure with a thickness of 320µm.
The researchers demonstrated the ease of the weaving process by fabricating colorful textiles with arbitrary size and weaving patterns. They also integrated the textile into many common fabric items, such as cloth, curtains, and tents.
Under ambient sunlight, and in the presence of wind blowing or human motion, the textile swatch was able to charge a small commercial capacitor up to 2V in one minute. The textile could continuously power an electric watch, charge a cell phone, and even drive water-splitting reactions, releasing hydrogen.
Due to the breathability, flexibility, and robustness of the textile, it is a prime candidate for wearable electronics. Using a textile swatch of 4×5cm, the team evaluated the textile’s properties on a person who was walking under sunlight (80 mW/cm2 intensity). The textile was highly deformable and responded well to human motion. They found that the fabric was able to deliver an output power of 0.5 mW even when elements in the circuit itself drew significant amounts of power (with loading resistances ranging from 10 KΩ to 10 MΩ).
Overall, the fabric doesn't generate a lot of electricity. But it has the advantage of being able to generate electricity where it may be needed.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/new-fabric-generates-electricity-from-sunlight-and-wind/
