Loughborough University develops nanogenerators for ‘smart clothing’

The research, led by the University’s Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, has used 3D printing techniques to create a new Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) design.

According to the researchers, the TENG design can then be customised through a series of liquids for the purpose of efficiently extracting energy from movements and for sensing.

In a statement, Dr Ishara Dharmasena, Senior Lecturer at Wolfson school and the project lead, said: “TENGs are a rapidly growing piece of technology which are becoming a leading candidate in developing future smart textile and health monitoring applications.

“The finding of this study, which provides detailed insights into how these devices can be made more efficient and effective, directly feeds into our efforts to develop technologies such as ‘super-smart textiles’, leading to a promising future with advanced and sustainable wearables.”

The researchers said that they found several previously unknown trends in the output of TENGs during the initial study which could ‘significantly improve’ the performance of the devices, to make them more efficient, smaller, and cheaper.