poetrychic

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have developed a microfiber fabric that generates its own electricity, making enough current to recharge a cell phone or ensure that a small MP3 music player never runs out of power.

If made into a shirt, the fabric could harness power from its wearer simply walking around or even from a slight breeze, they reported Wednesday in the journal Nature.

"The fiber-based nanogenerator would be a simple and economical way to harvest energy from the physical movement," Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who led the study, said in a statement.

The nanogenerator takes advantage of the semiconductive properties of zinc oxide nanowires -- tiny wires 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair -- embedded into the fabric. The wires are formed into pairs of microscopic brush-like structures, shaped like a baby-bottle brush.

One of the fibers in each pair is coated with gold and serves as an electrode. As the bristles brush together through a person's body movement, the wires convert the mechanical motion into electricity

"When a nanowire bends it has an electric effect," Wang said in a telephone interview. "What the fabric does is it translates the mechanical movement of your body into electricity."

His team made the nanogenerator by first coating fibers with a polymer, and then a layer of zinc oxide. They dunked this into a warm bath of reactive solution for 12 hours. This encouraged the wires to multiply, coating the fibers.

"They automatically grow on the surface of the fiber," Wang said. "In principal, you could use any fiber that is conductive."

They added another layer of polymer to prevent the zinc oxide from being scrubbed off. And they added an ultra-thin layer of gold to some fibers, which works as a conductor.

To ensure all that friction was not just generating static electricity, the researchers conducted several tests. The fibers produced current only when both the gold and the zinc oxide bristles brushed together.

So far, Wang said the researchers had demonstrated the principle and developed a small prototype.

"Our estimates show we can have up to 80 milliwatts per square meter of this fabric. This is enough to power a little iPod or charge a cell phone battery," he said.

"What we've done is demonstrate the principle and the fundamental mechanism."

Wang said the material could be used by hikers and soldiers in the field and also to power tiny sensors used in biomedicine or environmental monitoring.

One major hurdle remains: zinc oxide degrades when wet. Wang's team is working on a process that would coat the fibers to protect the fabric in the laundry.

Microfiber fabric makes its own electricity? - Yahoo! News

now this is imagination

i like the outdoor uses they are suggesting it for...imagine people who hike etc. and wore clothes made out of this material, if anything desperate happened to them, it might not be such a horrible outcome...i love science

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"it was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation, yes we can!"

Jonesy

That's so cool. People could plug in their cell-phones into like an outlet in their jacket and almost never run out of power. Even if they were on a train or bus, they could do weird movement stuff just to generate energy. Better yet, they could maximize energy efficiency by exercising while generating cell-phone power.

poetrychic

i know, right? or people who work out could plug their ipods in and have unlimited playing time...hikers could generate heat for foot/hand warmers while climbing in higher altitudes...it's amazing the possibilities this technology might be able to achieve

"dreamer, you know you are a dreamer...."

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"it was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation, yes we can!"

Malkavian

If you have a jacket for a fluffy cat, you can power your house

Catpower!

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DRS112

This could be a horrible thing...seems like it would encourage women not to shave


I blame malki for this rude comment

Malkavian

Power catfight?

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DRS112

That would be great...but it defeats the purpose...it requires them to have more clothes on.

Malkavian

They can use a mat for generating electricity. Problem solved.

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DRS112

Somehow I knew you'd think with your...uhhh...head.

Malkavian

Gotta use all of them

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