Wearable Solar Concentrators - Tech Briefs

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

In the future, power sockets used to recharge smartphones, tablets, and laptops could become obsolete. The electricity would then come from our own clothes. By means of a new polymer that is applied on textile fibers, clothing could soon function as solar collectors and thus as a mobile energy supply.

Materials capable of using indirect or ambient light for energy generation are already being used in the solar industry. These materials contain special luminescent materials and are called Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs). The luminescent materials in the LSC capture diffuse ambient light and transmit its energy to the actual solar cell, which then converts light into electrical energy. LSCs are currently only available as rigid components and are unsuitable for use in textiles because they are neither flexible nor permeable to air and water vapor. Researchers have incorporated several of these luminescent materials into a polymer that provides this flexibility and air permeability.

The material is based on Amphiphilic Polymer Co-Networks (APCN), a polymer that has long been known in research and is already available on the market in the form of silicone-hydrogel contact lenses. The special properties of the polymer — permeability to air and water vapor as well as flexibility and stability — are also beneficial to the human eye and are based on special chemical properties.

The researchers added two different luminescent materials to the gel tissue, turning it into a flexible solar concentrator. Just as on large-scale (rigid) collectors, the luminescent materials capture a much wider spectrum of light than is possible with conventional photovoltaics.

The novel solar concentrators can be applied to textile fibers without the textile becoming brittle and susceptible to cracking or accumulating water vapor in the form of sweat.

For more information, contact Luciano Boesel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; +41 587-657-393.

This article first appeared in the November, 2024 issue of Tech Briefs Magazine (Vol. 48 No. 11).

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