TENG technique promises wearable low-power electronics

News

In an advance that could lead to wearable low-power electronics, researchers have developed a new, scalable manufacturing technique to create fabrics embedded with TENGs (triboelectric nanogenerators).

Loughborough University

Dr Ishara Dharmasena, of Loughborough University’s School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering (MEME), and a team of researchers at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka have developed the method, which is detailed in ACS Applied Electronic Materials.

The technique can reportedly turn common textile materials into ‘energy-generating textiles’ using established methods such as yarn coating, dip coating, and screen-printing to apply triboelectrically active solutions. The wearable TENG-containing fabrics are similar in texture to knitted materials and can produce electricity to operate low-power electronics using natural body movements.

The researchers’ 4cm-by-4cm lightweight and thin TENG textile produced over 35V of voltage using mild artificial movements that replicated slow body movements, and it is claimed that this could potentially power health sensors, environmental sensors, and electronic devices.

Dr Dharmasena said the technology will be “massively beneficial for future smart textile and wearable electronic applications” and could support the global shift to remote health monitoring.

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