Harvesting devices based on textile electrodes


Energy harvesting devices based on textiles represent an alternative to the classical battery with limited file and energy because it can obtain energy from different sources (solar energy, kinetic energy, thermal energy, chemical energy and electromagnetic waves). This chapter presents the main aspects of wearable energy harvesting devices, textile materials used, and technologies used for developing harvesters.

  • Electrostatic induction and the triboelectric effect generate small amounts of power from mechanical motion. In figure1.1. is presented the 3D double-faced interlock fabric triboelectric nanogenerator (3DFIF-TENG) based on interlock knit fabric that can produce electricity by bending and stretching the fabric [1].

  • The generation of direct current (DC) electricity from ambient wireless signals can be achieved using conductive and dielectric textile materials (fibres, threads) processed by spinning, weaving, knitting, embroidery and deposition of conductive inks on insulating materials, patch antennas for energy harvesting can be made applications [2]. Moreover, obtaining electric current from electromagnetic waves (RF) can be achieved by using a patch antenna and a rectifier fabricated using embroidery of conductive thread on the textile insulator substrates [3].
  • The generation of electricity from thermal energy can be achieved by using p-type and n-type materials based on silver yarns and textile yarns functionalized by the deposition of conductive polymers (PEDOT: PSS) and sewing/embroidery to make thermoelectric textile generators [4, 5] (figure 2).

harvesting



References

1. Chen, C., Chen, L., Wu, Z., Guo, H., Yu, W., Du, Z. and Wang, Z.L., 2020. 3D double-faced interlock fabric triboelectric nanogenerator for bio-motion energy harvesting and as self-powered stretching and 3D tactile sensors. Materials Today, 32, pp.84-93.

2. Yamada, Y., 2022. Textile Materials for Wireless Energy Harvesting. Electronic Materials, 3(4), pp.301-331.

3. Vital, D., Bhardwaj, S. and Volakis, J.L., 2019. Textile-based large area RF-power harvesting system for wearable applications. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 68(3), pp.2323-2331.

4. Lund, A., Tian, Y., Darabi, S. and Müller, C., 2020. A polymer-based textile thermoelectric generator for wearable energy harvesting. Journal of Power Sources, 480, p.228836.

5. Tian, Z., Lee, S. and Chen, G., 2014. Comprehensive review of heat transfer in thermoelectric materials and devices. Annual review of heat transfer, 17.

6. Hudak, N.S. and Amatucci, G.G., 2008. Small-scale energy harvesting through thermoelectric, vibration, and radiofrequency power conversion. Journal of Applied Physics, 103(10), p.5.

7. Alhawari, M., Mohammad, B., Saleh, H. and Ismail, M., 2018. Energy harvesting for self-powered wearable devices. Springer International Publishing.

8. Shveda, R.A., Rajappan, A., Yap, T.F., Liu, Z., Bell, M.D., Jumet, B., Sanchez, V. and Preston, D.J., 2022. A wearable textile-based pneumatic energy harvesting system for assistive robotics. Science Advances, 8(34), p.eabo2418.

9. Radio Frequency Harvesting, online available: assistcenter.org/radio-frequency-rf-harvesting

10. Chen, J., Huang, Y., Zhang, N., Zou, H., Liu, R., Tao, C., Fan, X. and Wang, Z.L., 2016. Micro-cable structured textile for simultaneously harvesting solar and mechanical energy. Nature Energy, 1(10), pp.1-8.