Self-powered textile for wearable electronics by hybridizing fiber-shaped nanogenerators, solar cells, and supercapacitors

Zhen Wen¹, Min-Hsin Yeh², Hengyu Guo³, Jie Wang⁴, Yunlong Zi⁴, Weidong Xu⁵, Jianan Deng⁴, Lei Zhu⁶, Xin Wang⁴, Chenguo Hu⁷, Liping Zhu⁸, Xuhui Sun⁵, Zhong Lin Wang⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Cyrus Tang Center for Sensor Materials and Applications, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.; Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
² School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
³ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
⁴ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.
⁵ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
⁶ School of Material Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China.
⁷ Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Cyrus Tang Center for Sensor Materials and Applications, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁹ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences; National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100083, China.

PMID: 27819039
PMCID: PMC5091355
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600097

Self-powered textile for wearable electronics by hybridizing fiber-shaped nanogenerators, solar cells, and supercapacitors

Zhen Wen et al. Sci Adv. 2016.

. 2016 Oct 26;2(10):e1600097.

doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1600097. eCollection 2016 Oct.

Authors

Zhen Wen¹, Min-Hsin Yeh², Hengyu Guo³, Jie Wang⁴, Yunlong Zi⁴, Weidong Xu⁵, Jianan Deng⁴, Lei Zhu⁶, Xin Wang⁴, Chenguo Hu⁷, Liping Zhu⁸, Xuhui Sun⁵, Zhong Lin Wang⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Cyrus Tang Center for Sensor Materials and Applications, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.; Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
² School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan.
³ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
⁴ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.
⁵ Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
⁶ School of Material Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, China.
⁷ Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Cyrus Tang Center for Sensor Materials and Applications, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁹ School of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245, USA.; Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences; National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100083, China.

PMID: 27819039
PMCID: PMC5091355
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600097

Abstract

Wearable electronics fabricated on lightweight and flexible substrate are believed to have great potential for portable devices, but their applications are limited by the life span of their batteries. We propose a hybridized self-charging power textile system with the aim of simultaneously collecting outdoor sunshine and random body motion energies and then storing them in an energy storage unit. Both of the harvested energies can be easily converted into electricity by using fiber-shaped dye-sensitized solar cells (for solar energy) and fiber-shaped triboelectric nanogenerators (for random body motion energy) and then further stored as chemical energy in fiber-shaped supercapacitors. Because of the all-fiber-shaped structure of the entire system, our proposed hybridized self-charging textile system can be easily woven into electronic textiles to fabricate smart clothes to sustainably operate mobile or wearable electronics.

Keywords: Dye-sensitized solar cell; fiber; self-charging power system; supercapacitor; triboelectric nanogenerator; wearable electronics.

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Figures

**Fig. 1. Schematic of the self-charging power textile.**
Scheme of a fiber-based self-charging power system, which is made of an F-TENG, an F-DSSC as an energy-harvesting fabric, and an F-SC as an energy-storing fabric.

**Fig. 2. Structural design of an F-DSSC.**
(A) Schematic diagram and (B) photograph (scale bar, 1 cm) of a single F-DSSC, consisting of N719 dye–adsorbed TiO₂ nanotube arrays on a Ti wire as a working electrode and a Pt-coated carbon fiber as a CE in an I⁻/I₃⁻-based electrolyte. (C) Low-magnification and (D) high-magnification SEM images of the TiO₂ nanotube arrays on the Ti wire [scale bars, 100 μm (C) and 100 nm (D)]. (E) J-V curve of a single F-DSSC (inset shows the Nyquist plot of an F-DSSC, which is measured under V_OC with frequencies ranging from 100 kHz to 10 MHz). (F) Normalized current density of the single F-DSSC at different bending angles (0° to 180°) (insets show the photograph of a single F-DSSC at different bending angles).

**Fig. 3. Structural design of an F-SC.**
(A) Schematic diagram and (B) photograph (scale bar, 1 cm) of a single F-SC, consisting of two carbon fibers coated with RuO₂·xH₂O in the H₃PO₄/PVA electrolyte. (C) Low-magnification and (D) high-magnification SEM images of the RuO₂·xH₂O–coated carbon fiber electrode [scale bars, 100 μm (C) and 5 μm (D)]. (E) CV of the single F-SC at different scanning rates (10 to 100 mV/s). (F) GCD curve of a single F-SC at different current densities (100 to 1000 μA). (G) Cycling performance of a single F-SC unit. (H) CV curves of the single F-SC at different bending angles (0° to 180°).

**Fig. 4. Structural design of an F-TENG.**
(A) Schematic diagram and (B) photograph (scale bar, 1 cm) of a pair of single F-TENG units, consisting of a Cu-coated EVA tube and a PDMS-covered Cu-coated EVA tube. (C) Schematic illustration of the working mechanism of the F-TENG under parallel contact-separation motion. (D) Electrical outputs of a pair of F-TENG units, which included V_OC, I_SC, and Q_SC, at various motion frequencies (1 to 5 Hz). (E) Photograph of the wearable self-charging powered textile with knitting patterns of 1 × 1, 3 × 3, and 5 × 5 nets (all scale bars, 1 cm). (F) Triboelectric output performance of the three network textiles. (G) The electric resistance of the Cu-coated EVA tube at different bending angles (0° to 180°) (insets show the photograph of the Cu-coated EVA tube at different bending angles).

**Fig. 5. Demonstration of the self-charging powered textile and its operation under outdoor and indoor conditions.**
Photograph of the self-charging power textile woven with F-TENGs, F-DSSCs, and F-SCs under outdoor (A), indoor (B), and movement (C) conditions. (D) Circuit diagram of the self-charging powered textile for wearable electronics (WE). (E) Charging curve of the F-DSSC and the F-TENG, where the light blue–shaded area corresponds to the charging curve of the F-DSSC and the light red–shaded area corresponds to the charging curve of the F-DSSC–F-TENG hybrid. The top left corner inset shows an enlarged curve during the F-DSSC charging period, and the bottom right corner inset shows the rectified I_SC of F-TENGs. (F) Normalized Q_SC values of F-TENGs, I_SC values of F-DSSCs, and capacitances of F-SCs bent between 0° and 180° for 1000 cycles. Insets show the photographs of the two final bending statuses (both scale bars, 1 cm). a.u., arbitrary units.

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Self-powered textile for wearable electronics by hybridizing fiber-shaped nanogenerators, solar cells, and supercapacitors

Affiliations

Self-powered textile for wearable electronics by hybridizing fiber-shaped nanogenerators, solar cells, and supercapacitors

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Figures

References