News Release 08-020

Remarkable New Clothing May Someday Power Your iPod®

The promise of piezoelectric fiber pairs



Piezoelectric zinc oxide nanowires make electricity: The gold-coated layer scrubs the other layer.



February 13, 2008



This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Nanotechnology researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing a shirt that harvests energy from the wearer's physical motion and converts it into electricity for powering small electronic devices worn by soldiers in the field, hikers and other users.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and described in the Feb. 14 issue of Nature, details how pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires generate electricity in response to applied mechanical stress. Known as "the piezoelectric effect," the resulting current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer's body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices. The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration or other mechanical energy.

"The two fibers scrub together just like two bottle brushes with their bristles touching, and the piezoelectric-semiconductor process converts the mechanical motion into electrical energy," says Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Many of these devices could be put together to produce higher power output."

Wang and collaborators Xudong Wang and Yong Qin have made more than 200 of the fiber nanogenerators. Each is tested on an apparatus that uses a spring and wheel to move one fiber against the other. The fibers are rubbed together for up to 30 minutes to test their durability and power production.

The researchers have measured current of about four nanoamperes and output voltage of about four millivolts from a nanogenerator that included two fibers that were each one centimeter long. With a much improved design, Wang estimates that a square meter of fabric made from the special fibers could theoretically generate as much as 80 milliwatts of power.

So far, there is only one wrinkle in the fabric, so to speak - washing it. Zinc oxide is sensitive to moisture, so in real shirts or jackets, the nanowires would have to be protected from the effects of the washing machine.

The research was funded by NSF's Division of Materials Research. "This multi-disciplinary research grant enables materials scientists and engineers from varied backgrounds to work together towards translating basic and applied research into viable technologies," said NSF Program Manager Harsh Deep Chopra.

The research was also sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology.

-NSF-



"Bottle-brush" arrangement of microfibers; gold-coated fibers are depicted as yellow.

Credit and Larger Version



Zhong Lin Wang, Xudong Wang and Yong Qin of Georgia Tech

Credit and Larger Version

Media Contacts

Diane Banegas, National Science Foundation, (703) 292-4489, email: dbanegas@nsf.gov

John Toon, Georgia Institute of Technology, (404) 894-6986, email: jtoon@gatech.edu



Program Contacts

Harsh D. Chopra, National Science Foundation, (703) 292-4543, email: hchopra@nsf.gov



Principal Investigators

Zhong Lin Wang, Georgia Institute of Technology, (404) 894-8008, email: zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu



The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2020 budget of $8.3 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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