After two years of research and trials, Professor Zhong Lin Wang, from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, along with his team of Chinese and American scientists developed a super thin, flexible, and foldable fabric that can power one's mobile device through movement, wind, and sunlight.
As the fabric moves or is exposed to sunlight, it generates electricity.
Thin cables of fiber based solar cells with fibrous nano-generators are weaved together to make the .32 millimeter or 320 micron thick fiber. It can also be combined with other fabrics to make clothing, curtains, tents, or anything that uses fabrics, even ship sails.
Truly a revolutionary invention.
The team calls it "a micro-cable power textile" and it takes fashion and technology to a whole new level. Imagine your mobile phone never running out of juice again as long as there's human movement, wind, and sun. Your shirt can be the one to power your gadgets. Or your boat having electricity without the use of a load generator or those huge batteries as long as the wind or the sun is hitting your sails.
This power fabric is the first of its kind in harnessing energy by using both mechanical (movement) and environmental (sun and wind), according to a report released by Georgia Tech. to Nature Energy on September 12.
Another wonderful thing about this new type of textile, Professor Wang wanted to emphasize on is that it can also be used to power health indicators, or monitor an individual's geographical position to point out a few.
"This has applications for medical purposes, infrastructure monitoring, security and many other areas," Wang said.
He also added. "So this community is now is fast expanding for health monitoring, medical purposes, and they have a need for powerful small electronics,"
