Rapid technological developments have greatly reduced the size of electronics and increased their portability. The number of portable devices worldwide reached 12.2 billion in 2021, which is predicted to more than double to over 25 billion in 2025. The exorbitant number of small electronics has led to an ever-increasing demand for energy. Existing energy sources are primarily derived from unsustainable resources, such as coal, oil and natural gas, which are non-renewable and lead to global pollution. Therefore, developing renewable and sustainable types of energy is urgently needed, which is an important but challenging task.
Recently, Professor Xu Bingang and his team made an innovative breakthrough in the field by developing a new type of wearable textile that can generate electricity directly from air. This development is based on their new understanding and regulation of charge transfer and ion occupation effects. The textile is capable of generating an impressive electric output (0.88 V and 37.58 µA at a size of 4 cm2) across a wide range of relative humidities (10% to 90%) and ambient temperatures (-30˚C to 50˚C), including various weather conditions such as sunny, cloudy, overcast, and rainy, regardless whether it is day or night. As a result, the scaled-up new textiles have the ability to power various wearable electronic devices, including optical fibres, luminous shoes, digital timers, high-power digital multi-sensors, and wireless locators, with a maximum work time of over 200 days.
The innovative work promotes the further development of next-generation renewable energy technologies and smart wearable systems. A patent application has been filed to protect the intellectual property of this technology, and the theoretical foundations have been published in Advanced Functional Materials.
