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Soon, your clothes may power small electronics

Soon, your clothes may power small electronicsWashington, May 24 (IANS) Researchers have invented a way to apply metal-free electrodes to fabric and off-the-shelf clothing so that it feels good to the touch and also transports enough electricity to power small electronics.

Such clothes may one day power wearable electronic devices.

Powering advanced fabrics that can monitor health data remotely are important to the military and increasingly valued by the health care industry, said one of the researchers Trisha Andrew at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

 

Generating small electric currents through relative movement of layers is called triboelectric charging, Andrew explained.

Materials can become electrically charged as they create friction by moving against a different material, like rubbing a comb on a sweater.

"By sandwiching layers of differently materials between two conducting electrodes, a few microwatts of power can be generated when we move," she added.

In the study published online in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the researchers described the vapor deposition method they use to coat fabrics with a conducting polymer to make plain-woven, conducting fabrics that are resistant to stretching and wear and remain stable after washing and ironing.

The thickest coating they put down is about 500 nanometres, or about 1/10 the diameter of a human hair.

The researchers tested electrical conductivity, fabric stability, chemical and mechanical stability of the technique on conductivity for 14 fabrics, including five cottons with different weaves, linen and silk from a craft store.

"Our article describes the materials science needed to make these robust conductors," Andrew said.

"We show them to be stable to washing, rubbing, human sweat and a lot of wear and tear," she said.

The coating did not change the feel of any fabric as determined by touch with bare hands before and after coating.

Coating did not increase fabric weight by more than two per cent, the study said.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Soon, your clothes may power small electronics

About VDC

Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.

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