Smart Textiles

Chapter 6Nanogenerators for Smart Textiles

Xiong Pu¹, Weiguo Hu¹ and Zhong Lin Wang^1,2*

¹Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

²School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

*Corresponding author: [e-mail]

Abstract

Smart textiles or wearable electronics typically integrate various types of sensors, illuminating/displaying devices, and actuators into yarns, garments, accessories, or wearables, which all require power sources. Meantime, state-of-the-art batteries, the most commonly used portable power sources, are rigid, bulky, not washable, and in need of frequent recharging, making the smart textile uncomfortable and inconvenient, not to mention their unaddressed safety issue. Therefore, intensive research endeavors have been dedicated in recent years to energy-generation devices that could be integrated into smart textiles/wearable electronics, while maintaining the softness or comfort of textiles/wearables. Nanogenerators, converting mechanical motion/vibration energies into electricity, have been demonstrated to be promising for this end. This chapter provides an overview, perspective, and prospect on nanogenerators for smart textiles, with the specific focus on the progresses of two types of nanogenerators, i.e. piezoelectric and triboelectric nanogenerators.

Keywords: Piezoelectric nanogenerators, triboelectric nanogenerators, smart textiles, energy ...