Researchers take step towards clothes to charge your phone

Higher voltage supercapacitor thread enables more applications

Researchers at Brunel University have taken a step forward in developing clothes that can power wearable technology, smartphones and tablets.

Researchers have developed a thread that contains a supercapacitor that for the first time has sufficient voltage to power devices and can also be manufactured in an economically viable way outside of the lab.

Professor David Harrison from Brunel's Department of Design, said: “Supercapacitors are already ubiquitous as back-up power in phones, PCs and tablets. They store energy without a chemical reaction so can be charged and discharged almost indefinitely. But in thread form they have never before been able to break the 1V barrier.

“What we have done is show we can produce a multi-layered structure with two sequential capacitive layers capable of producing up to 2V. Breaking the 1V threshold is important as in the real world we work on the voltage of common batteries – 1.5V.

“We also wanted to address mass production issues so developed a process to semi-automatically coat stainless steel wire the thickness of a human hair with eight separate layers.”

The research, which has been patented is part of an EU-sponsored programme called Powerweave, which brings together researchers from seven countries to produce textiles which can both generate and store power.

Powerweave has focused on agricultural greenhouses and airship applications, but also provides technology for applications and design opportunities such as smart clothing, high-visibility jackets, sports goods, clothes with embedded sensors, and lighting and displays. Other possible applications include smart energy generating tents and rescue gear for disaster relief.

The Brunel paper can be found here.