Energy Harvesting Smart Textiles

Abstract

The ever-increasing population of the world is putting a significant demand on the need for multifunctional electronic devices and electricity to power them. This growing demand has led to an enhanced focus on the development of energy harvesting techniques based on renewable and ambient sources. Although materials having unique properties such as photovoltaic, piezoelectric and triboelectric have been known for a long time and have been utilized usually in the form of thin-film structures, their utilization in the form of textile structures for energy harvesting is a relatively new area of research. This chapter will focus on the recent advances in the area of photovoltaic, piezoelectric and triboelectric energy-generating textile structures and the fundamentals of these unique properties, production methods and textile-based energy storage. Finally, expected future trends in the fabrication and application of textile-based energy harvesting and storage will be discussed.