I-Corps: Fabric Supercapacitor for Solar Energy Storage

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a special textile product capable of harvesting and storing solar energy. The potential application of the proposed technology is for alternative power supplies and battery devices. Current alternative power supplies are indispensable in remote rural areas where people lack access to reliable power grid infrastructure.

However, travelers, hikers, or campers may find these alternatives cost- or safety-prohibitive. Disaster relief or military personnel deployed to remote areas may find that in addition to the mobility issues, current battery devices are costly on a large scale and fuel solutions are risky for those supplying fuel to those situated in hostile environments.

Using the proposed technology, a hiker’s or soldier’s backpack may be turned into a power supply. A solar cell may be sewn into the bag to harvest solar energy that will be stored by the bag supercapacitor. Similarly, the fabric supercapacitor may be embedded into tent material, making the tent into a solar power supply as well.

A sustainable, self-powered system make it possible for travelers to remote areas or for soldiers deployed for military operations.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a technology for making fabric supercapacitors (FSCs). The proposed technology includes various fabric materials, structural design of the fabric, and a novel fabrication approach. The energy storage ability of the FSC device will be determined by the size of the fabric areas used for forming the supercapacitor structure.

Compared with conventional supercapacitors, the proposed FSC technology is flexible, light weight, and safe. In addition, the bendable, twistable, rollable, and foldable design provides space that may be inaccessible to conventional supercapacitors. A demonstration of the technology showed that four series supercapacitors illuminated a red LED for more than 130 min and still maintained a voltage output around 1.61 V.

The supercapacitor was susceptible to cyclic bending in 0-180 degree angles without losing its performance. The proposed all-fabric FSC technology potentially may be adopted into many textile products acquiring the functions of solar energy harvesting and electric power storage.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.