"Energy clothing" is coming! The research team of Donghua University has developed "power generation"

Wearable electronic products and energy products are the focus of the scientific and technological circles in recent years. The mobile phone on the sleeves and the self-service life system on the spacesuits... People seeing on science fiction films are moving towards real life. Recently, Professor Wang Zhihong from Donghua University's School of Materials has made breakthroughs in this field. The team has developed a kind of “power generation” clothing materials, making the real “energy clothing” a reality.

Spinning process of power generation yarn and source of physical photos

With the rapid development of wearable electronic devices, the demand for wearable energy has gradually increased. Due to the limitations of traditional batteries, such as lack of flexibility, non-stretching, and difficulty in weaving, flexible portable energy materials and devices have gained a lot of attention. However, most of the current research on wearable power supplies demonstrates the "wearing" form of energy devices, which are primarily used as add-ons to clothing and still lack wearing comfort. In contrast, if the clothing ontology becomes a ready-made physical carrier, it is a more ideal wearable function integration platform.

In view of this, the research team believes that clothing materials such as fibers, yarns and fabrics will become the next generation power generation carrier. However, mature power generation technologies such as photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, piezoelectric/triboelectrics, etc., are still challenging to combine with apparel materials and the textile industry . At present, energy textiles are difficult to produce on a large scale, and the performance of energy devices is susceptible to environmental humidity, and there is still a lack of technology for generating electricity using a single yarn. Therefore, the development of "energy clothing" has been difficult.

Single-electrode potential well model and coupled gain generator system

In the experiment, the researchers used industrial grade spinning equipment to achieve continuous and large-scale production of stretchable friction power yarns. Such power generation yarns are composed of highly elastic polymer materials (rubber) and spiral metal fibers. The two types of intrinsic elastomers and extrinsic elastomers are combined by the design of the sheath core structure and have a synergistic strain behavior. Under the strains of stretching, bending and twisting, the electron-generating yarns between the two types of materials generate milliwatt-level output power.

The researchers deeply explored the single-electrode potential well model of contact/separation of metal with amorphous polymer. It was found that the amorphous polymer not only acts as a barrier to prevent the field potential in the yarn from being eliminated by the external atmosphere (gas, water, etc.). The induced charge can be coupled with the external atmosphere molecules, and the assumption of the potential/polarization coupling effect of the triboelectric device is first proposed. Thanks to the special core-core design and coupled-gain generator system, the power generation yarn developed by the research team can generate electricity by itself without interaction with other objects, and can be applied to different atmospheres or even liquids.

Weaving process for power generation fabrics and demonstration of wearable applications

On this basis, the researchers used industrial grade weaving machines to weave the power generation yarn to obtain a flexible power generation fabric, which also has the capability of amphibious work. The study also found that the power generation yarn can also be woven together with other commercially available fibers such as nylon fiber and polyacrylonitrile fiber, and the vapor permeability, comfort and power generation of the textile can be effectively regulated. Now, researchers can already wear "energy clothing" made of power-generating fabrics, showing their functions of charging lithium batteries for electronic devices, driving wireless signal transmission systems, and capturing human body movements.