Embroidering power-generating yarns onto fabric allowed researchers to embed a self-powered, numerical touch-pad and movement sensors into clothing. The technique offers a low-cost, scalable potential method for making wearable devices.
"Our technique uses embroidery, which is pretty simple -- you can stitch our yarns directly on the fabric," said the study's lead author Rong Yin, assistant professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at North Carolina State University. "During fabric production, you don't need to consider anything about the wearable devices. You can integrate the power-generating yarns after the clothing item has been made."
In the study published in Nano Energy, researchers tested multiple designs for power-generating yarns. To make them durable enough to withstand the tension and bending of the embroidery stitching process, they ultimately used five commercially available copper wires, which had a thin polyurethane coating, together. Then, they stitched them onto cotton fabric with another material called PTFE.
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