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Nanowires Allow For Electricity-Generating Clothing

Posted by Zonk on Thu Feb 14, 2008 01:10 PM
from the next-step-in-this-direction-is-thermoptic-camoflage dept.
Power Technology
lee1 writes "The latest development in the field of 'energy harvesting', which includes such opportunistic technology such as self-winding watches, generators implanted in soldier's boots, and knee brace dynamos, is a cloth that generates electrical power. The cloth is newly developed by scientists in the US, and can produce up to 80 milliwatts per square metre. It is made from brush-like fibres composed of a Kevlar stalk surrounded by zinc oxide nanowire crystals that generate electricity through the piezoelectric effect. They can be grown on any substrate, including hair. The power harnessed from this effect could be used for anything from cosmetic components to the powering of medical devices."
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Related Stories

[+] Hardware: Knee Brace Generates Electricity From Walking 128 comments
ktulus cry brings news of a device that can power portable gadgets, prosthetic joints, and other mobile appliances by harvesting energy generated by walking. Researchers are working on making the device — still a moderately cumbersome 3.5 pounds — smaller while maintaining its energy harvesting capacity. CNet has a write-up with more pictures and a diagram of the device. "In the mode in which the brace is only activated while the knee is braking, the subjects required less than one watt of extra metabolic power for each watt of electricity they generated. A typical hand-crank generator, for comparison, takes an average of 6.4 watts of metabolic power to generate one watt of electricity because of inefficiencies of muscles and generators. A lighter version would be helpful to hikers or soldiers who don't have easy access to electricity. And the scientists say similar mechanisms could be built into prosthetic knees other implantable devices such as pacemakers or neurotransmitters that today require a battery, and periodic surgery to replace that battery."
[+] Science: Nanowires of Unlimited Length 111 comments
StCredZero writes with word of a research team from the University of Illinois who have developed a way to manufacture nanowires of any length from various materials. Not, unfortunately, carbon nanotubes, or we would be looking for news on space elevators soon. The process is analogous to drawing with a fountain pen — as liquid is drawn from a reservoir, a solvent (water or an organic) evaporates and the solute precipitates onto a substrate. The researchers have demonstrated a way to spin and wind a nanowire onto a spool; they have produced a coil of microfiber 850 nm in diameter and 40 cm long. Here's the abstract from the journal Advanced Materials.
Submission: Nanowires allow 'power dressing' by lee1 (219161)
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Nanowires Allow For Electricity-Generating Clothing 50 Comments More /

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  • What about... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TubeSteak (669689) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:12PM (#22423076) Journal
    Can it be grown on sharks?
    /to power the frickin' laser beams

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mh1997 (1065630)
      From the article "The possibility of developing piezoelectric, or energy generating fibres or fabrics has been something that the smart fabrics research community has been speculating about for some time," P>

      I guess they are too young to remember wearing a polyester leisure suit and walking across carpeting.

      • Now there's a worry. Would a polyester leisure suit then serve as ECM for devices powered by this nanofabric? Is a polyester suit the new outfit for spies and saboteurs?

  • is that the same "up to" my ISP uses? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by petes_PoV (912422) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:14PM (#22423108)
    up to 80 milliwatts ...

    Up to 10Mbit/s download speeds

    So how much power is that in practice? 5mW PSM? maybe 10 if you're an athlete?

    I think I'll stick to batteries, thanks

  • Don't hug me bro! (Score:5, Funny)

    by barocco (1168573) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:15PM (#22423120)
    Don't hug me bro!

  • Their first attempts were a complete failure (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:15PM (#22423132)
    The nanowire bath towels were a shocking failure.

    Proper marketing will be needed to overcome consumer resistance.

  • forgive my ignorance (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bandman (86149) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:16PM (#22423140) Homepage
    Wouldn't harnessing this energy make the material harder to move in?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by KublaiKhan (522918)
      Not necessarily. You waste a lot of energy moving your clothing around as-is; the fabric would likely be a little stiffer, but that's probably about it--they're not making the whole thing out of kevlar, apparently.
    • At 80 milliwatts per square meter you'd be looking at less than the difference asking for extra starch at the cleaners gives you.

    • Re:forgive my ignorance (Score:5, Informative)

      by orclevegam (940336) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:47PM (#22423660) Journal

      Wouldn't harnessing this energy make the material harder to move in?
      Actually, in the case of the knee-brace generator it makes it easier to move. The knee-brace has a clutch mechanism that only engages on the absorption portion of the step (when your knee is flexing to absorb the impact and transfer your weight) so the resistance of the brace actually helps your legs absorb the impact of stepping. The only problem with the current model is that it's rather bulky and heavy so until it's made lighter it makes it harder to move just from the weight of it. There are lots of ways this could be used to actually improve efficiency (much like active-braking generators in cars) rather than decrease it. Remember, all friction heat and to a lesser extent gravity (falling down a gravity well) is wasted energy, recapturing as much as possible helps cut down on entropy.
    • Wouldn't use of this material make it harder to travel through airports, train stations and similar in the US or US-co-opted EU nations...?

      What will this mean (if anything) for DSDs (data storage devices)?

      And, how much juice will be generated and discharged when wearers (become engage in heavily-mechanical, mind-blowing frottage (frotteurism)(consensual or not)? Will it be "shocking" and/or "scentillating"

      (captcha: "eagerly")
  • Washing the shirt will ruin it.

  • What we really need... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:17PM (#22423180)
    ... is a way to generate electricity by masturbation. I could probably power my data center... and maybe yours too!

  • Nano-generation Decision Point (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Phoenix666 (184391) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:20PM (#22423208)
    Self-winding watches are great, because you don't have to do any extra work to wind them; they wind themselves according to the work you already do raising and lowering your arm (weight of the watch notwithstanding). Knee braces and such, though, break that model, because you have to do more physical work to generate the power.

    There is a lot of passive mechanical energy in our environment that can be harvested to generate power. But it has to make economical sense. If you can coat your house in nano piezoelectric filaments that generate twice the current that they cost, then good. Otherwise, why bother?

    • Self winding watches do take extra energy. Every time you move your wrist you expend energy to set the winding mechanism going.

      The amount of energy is so small as to be trivial and unnoticeable.

      I suspect that 80 milliwatt per square meter is also unnoticeable, as we expend several hundred watts in ordinary motion.

      When we worship philosophers, simply because they are philosophers, and denigrate plumbers simply because they are plumbers, we will soon find that neither our theories nor our pipes

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by orclevegam (940336)

      Knee braces and such, though, break that model, because you have to do more physical work to generate the power.

      Another article talks more about the knee-brace. It actually helps you walk because it's got a clutch that only engages when your knee is flexing to absorb shock. It adds zero (more or less) resistance when lifting and adds resistance when bracing, so you end up recapturing a lot of the energy wasted on the down step. It's really the same principle as the active-braking systems in electric cars that allow them to recapture a lot of the energy used in accelerating the car when it's braking.

      • Re:Nano-generation Decision Point (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Ephemeriis (315124) on Thursday February 14 2008, @02:17PM (#22424082) Homepage

        Why bother? Because cost doesn't seem to be an issue with the ecofriendly crowd that want alternative energy in use. If it costs 5 cents per kilowatt over 10 years or $5.00, it doesn't matter because they said it needs to happen and you will pay for it anyways if it is the only thing available.

        And if there are people too cheap to pay the extra, then demonize them, complain and cause the cost of regular energy to increase to a point there is a trade off with regulations and such then get mad at the government for a failing economy when energy costs are sucking all the extra money out of it.
        I strongly suspect this is less about "green" energy than it is generating energy in out-of-the-way places. The knee brace article mentions soldiers using it to charge/power their equipment in the field - where they'd typically be carrying around piles of batteries, or solar cells, or hauling around a generator. Being able to generate some electricity from simply walking sounds like a pretty nice trade-off. Similarly if you could make the soldier's uniforms out of this material, or make tents out of it, you could again reduce all the batteries and crap that they have to carry around.

        Or you could use these technologies in camping/hiking gear. Charge up your phone/laptop/radio while simply walking through the countryside.

        Or they could be used to create tech-friendly apparel. A jacket, perhaps, that keeps your iPod charged up at all times.

        Or they could be used to supply power where the local infrastructure is damaged or outright missing. Throw up some tents/shelters made out of this cloth and generate electricity for lighting.

        Or maybe something to throw into a survival kit. A little radio beacon sending out a constant SOS that's powered by your movement, or the clothes you wear.

        I mean, there are literally tons of non-green reasons to look into technology like this. It may never be an economically viable way to generate large-scale electricity... You may never power your house with it... But there are also plenty of places/situations where economics are not the most important factor.
  • Props to Rudy Rucker...

  • Grown on hair? (Score:5, Funny)

    by LaRoach (968977) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:22PM (#22423242)
    They can be grown on any substrate, including hair

    Then my back is gonna run the whole house!
    • They can be grown on any substrate, including hair

      Then my back is gonna run the whole house!

      Nah...balding men are going to have artificial hair plugs that power their pace makers.
    • Yea, I'm betting my ass alone could supply energy to one of the neighbors less fortunate then I am.

  • Powering medical devices? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Jason Levine (196982) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:22PM (#22423250) Homepage
    I can see it now:

    "Grandpa, why won't you stop running?"

    "Can't Junior. If I stop, my pacemaker will shut down. I shouldn't even stop to talk to y-... *urk*"

    *thud*
  • What about the static electricity generated by wool, fleece, and other types of clothing? Shoot, in these parts just about anything can generate static, and there's no feeling quite as electric as getting bit by 20,000 volts on the end of your finger whenever you step out of the car...

    • there's no feeling quite as electric as getting bit by 20,000 volts on the end of your finger whenever you step out of the car...
      Yeah, it's amazing they don't shut down gas stations in winter what with the irrational fear of people using a cell phone there igniting gas fumes.
    • ...and there's no feeling quite as electric as getting bit by 20,000 volts on the end of your finger whenever you step out of the car...

      Actually, there is. Let's just say that you should make damn sure that you and your partner are both grounded before attempting to have sex on a dry, winter day.
  • well.. a field of "wheat" gathering energy from the wind might be prettier than a windmill. until them aliens start making their crop circles.

  • How silly (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hyc (241590) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:27PM (#22423334) Homepage Journal
    They should just weave this stuff in with silk or wool and channel off the electricity from static buildup. Simple.
  • Years from now, when we are all feeding the huge network of computers that run our lives and the world with power generated by mere movement in the cloths we are forced to wear, we will remember that this news item did not alarm us at all.

    Doh!

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Surt (22457)
      Years from now we aren't remembering it, because we think it wasn't thousands of years in the past, thanks to the matrix.

  • An interesting application (Score:4, Funny)

    by Charcharodon (611187) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:31PM (#22423412)
    Make the bed sheets out of them....

    "Damn it woman, leave me alone and go to sleep. Don't give me that "my iPod needs charging", I already checked it, it's full.

  • This new material will help make some shocking fashion statements, with the magnetic-like catwalk attracting Wired magazine to cover the gadget couture.

    Sure to be a winner in Paris is the Jarvik pacemaker clothing line, followed with a grammy for the iJacket from Apple.

    It's predicted that by the 2010 games, an additional $200 Billion will be spent on security scanners due to increased requirements from nano-clothing.

    The **AA have jointly endorsed scanners at concerts and other creative media events to preve
  • I submitted this yesterday, it was probably already in the firehose. I saw it at New Scientist [newscientist.com], where I followed some links to Professor Wang's press release [nsf.gov].

    Yes, that's really his name. Here [gatech.edu] is his research group's home page.

    -mcgrew [slashdot.org]
    • Not everyone emulates Butthead's laugh when hearing Wang in the computing world. Most slashdot folks should know about Wang Labs, until it was absorbed by Kodak in '97. The joke died in the '70s, man.
      • The joke died in the '70s, man.

        No it didn't, I've been keeping it on life support.

        The place I worked at had a Wang minicomputer as late as 1995, and even bough Wang PCs. The secretaries all loved Wangs!

  • WOW!!! A great idea!! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mlwmohawk (801821) on Thursday February 14 2008, @01:50PM (#22423718)
    If the clothing can produce power, it must transfer energy. Movement must overcome the load. Energy is not free.

    This is now the basis for programmable exercise clothing, electrically adjust how hard it is to walk or run to increase load. A small computer controlled load can be applied.

    It's mine, and if any of you IP mofos steal it, I'll sue!!!
    • It was yours, until you made a public revelation. Now you're screwed unless you already filed the patent.
      • It was yours, until you made a public revelation. Now you're screwed unless you already filed the patent.

        This post is prior art.
  • So if I mix this with the SurfaceSound Material [slashdot.org] then I could have clothes that generate power for my MP3 player and also plays the sound back.

    Just think of the people dancing down the street blasting music and generating the power from their own dancing! Non-stop music!
  • What happens when it rains or snows?
    What happens when you touch someone else who is "charged"?

  • Alarm Sensors (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sciop101 (583286) on Thursday February 14 2008, @02:08PM (#22423972)
    This would make outstanding surface alarm matrix.

    Woven into carpet, or embedded into a concrete/asphalt surface, with proper processing, this system could discriminate footsteps, vehicles, even seismic activity.

  • I heard about this on NPR yesterday you can't wash the fabric yet because of the material's reaction with water. Get ready for funk.

    • I prefer to only belive the considerable studies that say there are links between disease and EMF and South Pole fields.

      You ignore one side, I'll ignore the other. Then we can all get together and whine about global warming too!!!
    • Most of the scientific community seems to hold tightly to the notion that the human body is electrically neutral, ignoring that a human being is really an electro-chemical battery!

      I know! That's why the machines want to use us as a power source!

      Forget your silly EMF cancers, the real danger is that instead of plugging our bodies into their big generators while our brains are allowed to run free in a computer-generated utopia where we can all do super kung-fu, they'll keep us awake so we can run on treadmil

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