Future of e-textiles to be powered by tiny inkjet-printed energy stores
Energy storage devices that are ultra-thin, lightweight and flexible can be inkjet-printed onto clothes to power the future of electronic textiles (e-textiles) thanks to a world-first study led by Nottingham Trent University (NTU).
By Chris Birkle | Published on 16 September 2024
Categories: Press office; Research; School of Art & Design;
Energy storage devices that are ultra-thin, lightweight and flexible, can be inkjet-printed onto clothes to power the future of electronic textiles (e-textiles) thanks to a world-first study.
Research by Nottingham Trent University (NTU), the University of the West of England (UWE) and University of Exeter shows how high-performance micro-supercapacitors can be used to power e-textiles to support a range of health applications in a sustainable way.
The development allows for the electrodes to be printed onto the fabric of garments to provide power to wearable technologies that are embedded in the clothing while allowing them to remain fully wearable and washable.
Supercapacitors store energy electrochemically and have advantages over ordinary batteries, such as being faster to charge and discharge, having longer lifespans and being more cost-effective.
The study – published in Advanced Functional Materials journal – shows how inkjet printing ultra-thin layers of two-dimensional (2D) materials including graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the most accurate way to form a layered material, known as a heterostructure, to create a micro-supercapacitor.
Two-dimensional materials are materials that are so thin that they consist of only a single layer of atoms and have unique properties due to their thinness.
Professor Nazmul Karim, of the Nottingham School of Art & Design at NTU, who supervised the study, said: “E-textiles are widely considered to be a promising healthcare solution which can help allow for the unobtrusive monitoring of human health to support diagnoses at the point of care.
“But the lack of thin and flexible power supplies has until now hindered the practical adoption of such products, so we wanted to develop ways to enable textile-based micro-energy storage devices to provide the energy that is needed.
“This research could open a new era in high-performance textile-based micro-supercapacitors which will power the future wearable e-textiles for personalised health care.”
Professor Nazmul Karim
The study shows that inkjet printing is the ideal, high-precision method of creating these heterostructures as it allows for materials to be deposited the most precisely on substrate materials such as textiles.
The researchers used graphene as a conductor, MoS2 as a semiconductor, and h-BN as an insulator. The conductive graphene layers were printed on the top and bottom of the heterostructure, while the semiconductor (MoS2) and insulator (h-BN) were sandwiched in the middle.
Dr Shaila Afroj, an Associate Professor of Sustainable Materials at the University of Exeter, said: “The key challenge to wearable e-textiles is the requirement for a lightweight, flexible and high-performance power supply unit.
“Supercapacitors or ultracapacitors have gained greater attention as energy storage devices compared to batteries, mainly because of their rapid charging and discharging rates, long cycle life and cost-effectiveness.
“This study shows how inkjet printing is a promising and sustainable solution for the fabrication of fully smart, wearable, and eco-friendly supercapacitors for wearable electronics applications.”
Dr Md Rashedul Islam, who completed a PhD at the Centre for Print Research (CFPR) at UWE Bristol, and who now works as an assistant professor at Bangladesh University of Textiles (BUTEX) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said: “We have found that inkjet printing offers the possibility of producing high-quality prints with sharp details, making it an ideal choice for a wide array of printing applications.
“Incorporating MoS2 or h-BN between graphene layers, according to our study, significantly improved the micro-supercapacitor's performance as the combination of materials enables the devices to act as hybrid supercapacitors.
“The study highlights the potential of these inkjet-printed heterostructure micro-supercapacitors as a viable power source for e-textiles, paving the way for advancements in personalized healthcare technology.”
Notes for Editors
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Nottingham Trent University (NTU) received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2021 for cultural heritage science research. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed the honour of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens.
The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU was awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023 and ranked second best university in the UK in the Uni Compare Top 100 rankings (2021/2022). It was awarded Outstanding Support for Students 2020 (Times Higher Education Awards), University of the Year 2019 (Guardian University Awards, UK Social Mobility Awards), Modern University of the Year 2018 (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide) and University of the Year 2017 (Times Higher Education Awards).
NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with approximately 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
Since 2000, NTU has invested £570 million in tools, technology, buildings and facilities.
NTU is in the UK’s top 10 for number of applications and ranked first for accepted offers (2021 UCAS UG acceptance data). It is also among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge.
NTU is ranked 2nd most sustainable university in the world in the 2022 UI Green Metric University World Rankings (out of more than 900 participating universities).