Fan Xing, a Chemical Engineering Professor at Chongqing University, said on Friday that Chinese, U.S. scientists are inventing power-generating fabric.
The scientist said that with sufficient sunlight and constant motion, a 5-cm long and 4-cm wide fabric can generate and maintain electricity with a voltage of 5V, enough to charge a cellphone.
Xing explained that the fabric harvests energy from both motion and sunlight.
“Solar cells and nano-generators embedded in lightweight fibers are woven with wool to create the fabric.
“Only 0.32 millimetres thick, the fabric could be used with wearable devices, or as window shades and tents in the future,’’ he said.
Xing said before commencing on the invention, the researchers considered the safety of the fabric and tests were conduct at low voltage.
“The fabric is safe for human body.
“Durability tests have not yet been run, but the fabric can be bent 500 times without losing performance,’’ he said.
Xing said that the findings, in cooperation from the Georgia Institute of Technology, have been published in Nature Energy, an international academic journal.
(Xinhua/NAN)
