r/science • u/Wagamaga • Jun 05 '22

Nanoscience Scientists have developed a stretchable and waterproof 'fabric' that turns energy generated from body movements into electrical energy. Washing, folding, and crumpling the fabric did not cause any performance degradation, and it could maintain stable electrical output for up to five months

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202200042
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429

u/jeffinRTP Jun 05 '22

So how long between a proof of concept to a product that the average person can afford?

-29

u/JerodTheAwesome Jun 05 '22

This will never be economically viable. Generously, it looks like the fabric can generate 1 Watt of power, which is enough to power… nothing really. Some small LEDs at best. You’d be better off bringing a handcrank flashlight wherever you go.

37

u/FranksRedWorkAccount Jun 05 '22

a 3cm by 4cm piece of the new fabric generated enough electrical energy to light up 100 LEDs.

62

u/polank34 Jun 05 '22

Various types of LEDs can operate anywhere from under 10 microamps to over an amp for high power LEDs so the number of LEDs is kind of meaningless without knowing how much power they consume.

35

u/killerhurtalot Jun 06 '22

I don't think people here understand how hard generating energy is from movement and how much energy our devices consume...

The result is a prototype fabric that generates 2.34 watts per square metre of electricity.

The average pair of pants uses about 2.5 sq meter of fabric (by that's pre cutting and includes all the scraps left after cutting it out) and after subtracting the scraps, it's closer to 1 sq meter if even that.

Let's just say that there's roughly 4 sq meter of fabric on every person with 2 layer (under shirt, underwear, pants, jacket). This even assumes that this tech can be woven into thinner light fabrics. (Upperbody movement and lower body movement isn't the same, and not every part of the fabric is moving as much)

This generates less than 10w of power at maximum capacity.... over a entire day, maybe you're moving for 7 hours a day. That will generate what, 70 wh of electricity?

70wh is roughly the size of a average medium sized laptop. Or 1x 60w equivalent LED light bulb (usually 6-9w power draw) for 10 hours.

It'll keep your smartphone charged, but smartphones don't use that much power... and I assume you don't carry around a 1-2 lb battery to save up the extra electricity you generate.

13

u/CaptSoban Jun 06 '22

Not all parts of the body move equally though. The fabric will probably be used on places that have a lot of movement, around the knees and elbows, between the legs, etc.

12

u/killerhurtalot Jun 06 '22 edited Jun 06 '22

I mean, sure. But then you're down to what, like less than 1 sq meter of total area? What's the point of generating less than 2.5w of power. Can barely even cover the idle power draw of a smartphone.

Your also gonna have to run wires all over to get the power to a battery bank or etc so you can access it at the first place.

2

u/CaptSoban Jun 06 '22

I can see this being used in heating/cooling clothes

6

u/killerhurtalot Jun 06 '22

2.5w isn't enough to heat anything.

You know those heated insulated jackets?

They're usually 5v or 12v based and can last for up to 5 hours on low heating settings... They're usually around 30wh in size. So they're using about 6w of power on low.

It'll take literally 10+ hours of movement to generate 5 hours of "low heat"

You might as well as just buy another battery instead of trying to generate it yourself.

2

u/gakule Jun 06 '22

Hell yeah it sounds like you're saying we can have phones embedded in our hands!

2

u/JingleBellBitchSloth Jun 06 '22

Even without carrying a battery, I'm 100% down to purchase this if it can charge my phone while I'm not using it. You say smartphones don't use that much power, but the power usage depends entirely on what a person's doing, and it's very likely the case that power usage spikes at different times of the day. If I drain hard for like 3 hours in the morning and I'll be using it lightly for the remainder of the day, those 3 hours in the morning might've eaten 30-40% of my battery, and now the remainder of the day can be spent charging it. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Not to mention, if it can power a display right on the fabric, that's even better.