Fiber-based generator for wearable electronics and mobile medication.
Smart garments for monitoring physiological and biomechanical signals of the human body are key sensors for personalized healthcare. However, they typically require bulky battery packs or have to be plugged into an electric plug in order to operate. Thus, a smart shirt that can extract energy from human body motions to run body-worn healthcare sensors is particularly desirable. Here, we demonstrated a metal-free fiber-based generator (FBG) via a simple, cost-effective method by using commodity cotton threads, a polytetrafluoroethylene aqueous suspension, and carbon nanotubes as source materials. The FBGs can convert biomechanical motions/vibration energy into electricity utilizing the electrostatic effect with an average output power density of ∼0.1 μW/cm(2) and have been identified as an effective building element for a power shirt to trigger a wireless body temperature sensor system. Furthermore, the FBG was demonstrated as a self-powered active sensor to quantitatively detect human motion.
Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan, 430074, China.
Junwen
J
Zhong
Yan
Y
Zhang
Qize
Q
Zhong
Qiyi
Q
Hu
Bin
B
Hu
Zhong Lin
ZL
Wang
Jun
J
Zhou
D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001831:Body Temperature; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004560:Electricity; D004581:Electronics; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009038:Motion; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D009991:Oscillometry; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene / Q000737:chemistry; D055672:Static Electricity; D013535:Suspensions; D013784:Textiles; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D013535:Suspensions; D014867:Water; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene