Researchers from Empa’s Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles in Switzerland have developed a new polymer material that can turn clothing into energy-generating solar power sources.
The polymer can be applied to textile fibres for the development of apparels such as jackets, T-shirts and other items for the generation of solar energy that can be used as a mobile energy supply.
This expands the possibility of charging the smartphone directly with whatever clothes a person happens to be wearing.
The technology is developed on the concept of existing materials which utilises the indirect or ambient light to generate energy.
They contain luminescent materials and thus are dubbed luminescent solar concentrators (LSC), which are responsible for capturing the diffuse ambient light and transmitting its energy to a solar cell where it gets converted to electricity.
However, these materials are useful for providing solar energy where there isn’t abundant sunshine.
However, their use in textile is not the ideal choice since these are rigid components and can’t bend and flex. Moreover, these aren’t permeable to air and water vapour, which makes them unsuitable for this use.
To solve these issues, the research team of Luciano Boesel, lead of the team, integrated several types of luminescents into a polymer that offers flexibility and air permeability necessary for integration into textiles.
The new material developed was based on amphiphilic polymer co-networks (APCN), a polymer that’s already being used commercially in silicone-hydrogel contact lenses.
The polymer was selected by the researchers since they incorporate two immiscible luminescent materials at the nanoscale and let them interact with each other.
“There are, of course, other polymers, in which these materials could be integrated, but this would lead to aggregation, and the production of energy would thus not be possible,” said Luciano.
