Utilizing Commercialized Fibers, Harvesting External Mechanical Energy into Electrical Energy

Demonstrates the Possibility of Commercializing Wearable Devices with Self-driven Sensors that Detect Human Body Movement

Online Publication of the Latest Edition of ‘Nano Letters,’ a Renowned International Journal in the Nano Field

(From left) Dongguk University Department of Energy and Materials Engineering Master Kim Joo-wan, Master Roh Joon-ho, Professor Shim Hyun-joon, and Professor Choi Chang-soon

○ Dongguk University Department of Energy and Materials Engineering Master Kim Joo-wan (lead author), Master Roh Joon-ho (co-lead author), Professor Shim Hyun-joon (co-corresponding author), and Professor Choi Chang-soon (corresponding author) announced that they had developed an energy harvester in the form of clothing by coating commercial yarn with graphene.

○ They announced that they overcame the limitations of existing research by developing a technology to develop an energy harvester that can function as clothing by mass-producing functional yarn through a simple and continuous process and weaving them.

○ Existing mechano-electrochemical-based energy harvesters had many commercialization difficulties, such as expensive materials, complex processes, and mechanical properties unsuitable for direct clothing application. To solve this problem, Professor Choi Chang-soon's research team maintained clothing functionality by simply coating commercial yarn with graphene.  In addition, the team reported a wearable energy harvester capable of reproducing mechanical energy repeatedly generated through the wearer's movements into valuable electrical energy through imparting electrical conductivity.

○ For proper mechanical properties, fine fibers are twisted and entangled in commercial yarn. The research team led by Professor Choi Chang-soon used this special fiber structure to understand how mechanical energy from the outside may affect the surface area of an energy harvester, which then converts that mechanical energy into electrical energy using electrochemical principles. When woven into the clothing fabric, the produced harvester can be used as a sensor to track human movement. It can detect motion, particularly in direction and intensity, and it has demonstrated promise as a self-driven sensor that runs without external power.

○ Professor Choi Chang-soon said, "It is significant that we developed an energy harvester that harvests mechanical energy continuously generated by human body movement into electrical energy, while maintaining the essence of a wearable device." He also expressed his hope that, through mass production, a low-cost process, and the potential for weaving, "it can be used in various fields as self-driven sensors that do not require an external energy device."

○ The research results were published online in August 2023 in 「Nano Letters (IF=12.262)」, a renowned international journal in the field of materials, under the title <Hierarchically Plied Mechano-Electrochemical Energy Harvesting Using a Scalable Kinematic Sensing Textile Woven from a Graphene-Coated Commercial Cotton Yarn>.