Developed through an international collaboration led by researchers at Japan’s Tohoku University the system combines piezoelectric composites - which generate electricity when physically stressed - with unidirectional carbon fibre (UDCF), which serves as both an electrode and a directional reinforcement.
According to the team, the technology is well suited for applications in the aerospace, automotive, sports equipment, and medical sectors.
Tohoku University’s Professor Fumio Narita - co-author of a paper on the work - said that the device represents a novel method of integrating self-powered IoT (internet of things) sensors into a host of everyday items. "Effective integration of these IoT devices into personal gear requires innovative solutions in power management and material design to ensure durability, flexibility," he said.
Tests of the so-called UDCF/KNN-EP device revealed that it could maintain high performance even after being stretched more than 1000 times. It has been proven that it can withstand a much higher load when pulled along the fibre direction compared to other flexible materials.
Additionally, when subjected to impacts and stretching perpendicular to the fibre direction, it surpasses other piezoelectric polymers in terms of energy output density.
"CF/KNN-EP was integrated into sports equipment and accurately detected the impact from catching a baseball and a person's step frequency,” added Narita. “In our work, the high strength of CFs was leveraged to improve the sustainability and reliability of battery-free sensors while maintaining their directional stretchability and provides valuable insights and guidance for future research in the field of motion detection."
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