Energy harvesting textiles for a rainy day: woven piezoelectrics based on melt-spun PVDF microfibres with a conducting core

Abstract

Wearable electronics: textile piezoelectric generators made washable Core-sheath design shielding the inner electrodes brings the washable function and boosts the performance of the piezoelectric generators. A collaborative team led by Christian Müller from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden presents piezoelectric generator based on textiles made of core-sheath structured polymer microfibers. The black carbon/polyethylene based hidden electrodes are coated with piezoelectric polymer PVDF by a melt spinning process and then woven into textile bands with PA silver conducting yarns as the outer electrodes. Such a design guarantees the water proof function and even improves the performance with water due to reduced resistance. As a result, a 2.5 cm × 20 cm textile delivers an output pulse voltage of up to 8 V under wet conditions and continuous output power of 4 µW in a brisk walk.