Smart Clothes Help Us To Monitor Our Health Thanks To A New Charge-Storing System

Scientists in the US have recently introduced a new charge-storing system that turns our normal clothes into smart clothes.

According to the scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the new technology will help users to store charge in fabrics for health monitoring via their pace and joint movements.

The idea to develop smart clothes may not be new but there are many obstacles that scientists have to handle to make their dream into reality.

The integration of the newly-launched charge-storing system into clothing is applied to “embroidering a charge-storing pattern onto any garment.”

Talking to the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces about the study, Trisha L Andrew admitted that most of the innovative technologies relating to eating, wearing or something having great flexibility have faced with the limitations brought by batteries as well as similar types of charge storage. The products with batteries have a few things in common: they lack the flexibility or have a large dimension or weight.

In the new invention, in addition to a micro-supercapacitor, scientists also use a polymer film to cover vapor-coated conductive threads. To design a flexible network including many electrodes on the lining, a special sewing technique is applied.

As the study’s result, the charge-storing device is able to accumulate the charge corresponding to its size as well as supply the power for wearable biosensors.

The vapor-coated threads created by these scientists can be used to attach the charge-storing device to any garment. As a consequence, embroidering circuits onto smart clothes will become much simpler. Andrew added.

What makes supercapacitors ideal towards charge storage circuits that can be placed into our clothes is due to its nature of high power densities over batteries.

There are many difficulties in integrating electrochemically active materials that are highly conductive and can quickly move ions into textiles.

According to the researchers, coating vapor will establish the porous conductive polymer films on highly twisted threads. The new-generation smart clothes feature the longer-lasting power supply than clothes made of extruded fibers or dyed fibers.

However, the barriers regarding techniques and production costs are always worth considering. Fortunately, researchers have lately made a statement about the opportunity to apply the technology extensively but still ensure that smart clothes are produced at a reasonable cost.