Wearable Textile Power Module Based on Flexible Ferroelectret and Supercapacitor

The rapid development of electronic textiles imposes a challenge on the power supply devices that, unlike conventional rigid batteries, ideally should be compatible with the mechanical properties. It would be highly advantageous if the power supply is integrated within the same textile as the system it is powering. This communication presents for the first time a textile power module that combines a ferroelectret biomechanical energy harvester and a solid-state supercapacitor energy storage fabricated in a single woven cotton textile layer. The textile power module is highly flexible and the fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)-based ferroelectret can generate electric energy with an instantaneous output voltage of approximate to 10V and power density of approximate to 0.86 mu Wcm(-2) across a 70M resistive load from a compressive force of 350N. The activated carbon and nontoxic gel electrolyte-based solid-state supercapacitor demonstrates a capacitance of 5.55mFcm(-2) and excellent stability after mechanically straining the textile. The textile power module can be charged to around 0.45V in 3600s with a compressive cyclical force of 350N applied at 1Hz. This work demonstrates a promising combination of materials and devices for achieving a self-contained integrated power supply for e-textile applications.