Twistron yarn to generate electricity

Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Hanyang University at Seoul created an electrical generating yarn from carbon nanotubes and named the twistron. The yarn is flexible and acts as a supercapacitor in which ultra thin carbon is twisted and folded to provide the desired stretching, conductivity and other qualities. The researchers report to Science.

"Harvesting electrical energy by human motion is one strategy to eliminate the need for batteries. Our yarn produces about one hundred times more power per weight when stretched than other woven fibers reported in the literature," says Ray Baughman of UT Dallas's NanoTech Institute.

Twistron does not make the best sweater, but when pulled in a better way will generate electricity. The strings of carbon nanotubes are tangled and immersed in an electrolyte gel. When the gel is covered and drawn, the carbon nanotubes bind together and produce a small current for a moment to light the diode.



The researchers harvest electricity directly from the shirt utilizing the wearer's breathing kinetic motion. The threads can be strung together and mounted on the lid to take advantage of the motion of the water wave to power and generate 250 watts per kilogram.

"We look forward to potential applications of mass production of electricity in the oceans or other batteries that can create energy continuously for smartphones and unmanned aircraft," said Kim Sun-jeong of Hanyang University.