As a giant among technology giants, Apple’s upcoming Apple Watch only has a one-day battery life. Batteries have become a barrier to wearable devices.
“Most companies are working on the idea of batteries, but a research team from South Korea and Australia is solving this problem from another angle – they want clothes to generate electricity. This team’s design is a rechargeable fabric that can Wearable devices such as smartwatches provide power.”
In this fabric, the team added triboelectric nanogenerators and two layers of fabric, one made of silver and the other made of silicone and silver. The friction between two layers of materials can generate static electricity, thereby obtaining electrical energy.
Four pieces of fabric are stacked two by two and pressed with the same pressure as your fingers. The fabrics will generate an average of 170 volts of electrical energy. However, it needs further development and optimization to be put into practical use. In addition, this kind of fabric has proven to be very reliable, with a lifespan of 12,000 charge and discharge cycles.
In a test, the research team demonstrated using clothing made of this fabric to charge a number of devices that require less power, including LED lights and even electronic car keys.
Although this attempt is still in its early stages, under test conditions it can only charge the above sensors with smaller power consumption. However, if the problem of charging efficiency can be solved, it may be possible to charge wearable devices such as smart bracelets and watches in the future.
According to the researchers’ imagination, this material can not only be used to make clothes, but can also be designed into backpacks, gloves, scarves, etc. Maybe one day we can forget about power banks and spare batteries.
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