Multifunctional Yarns and Fabrics for Energy Applications (NBIT Phase 2)

Abstract

Abstract : The project focus on developing biscrolled carbon nanotube yarns and textiles for supercapacitor/battery and fuel cell electrode applications was chosen because of the urgent need for improved technologies for electrical energy storage and fuel-cell-based electrical energy generation. Project provided advances are in electrode electrochemical performance, mechanical robustness, and mechanical flexibility that can enable (1) giant power and energy densities; (2) multifunctional applicability where electrode strength and flexibility is utilized, like for energy storage in structural vehicle panels and electronic textiles; (2) deployability for both ultra-large and very small devices; (3) elimination of noble metal catalysts from fuel cell electrodes; and (4) the ability to harvest and store electrical energy in the human body. Woven textiles that are high performance biofuel cells and redox supercapacitors resulted from program work. While project focus was on fuel cell and energy storage electrodes based on biscrolled yarns, collaborative US-Korea project research has also provided advances in fabrication, process upscale, and in experimental and theoretical understanding of structure and properties that are important for all applications of biscrolled yarns. Major project advances in the energy area have also been made on artificial muscles and associated textiles that can be electrically, chemically, or photonically driven, as well as super-tough yarns that can absorb about 6 times higher energy before rupture than spider silk. Some of these artificial muscles can harvest energy from the environment to provide powerful large-stroke actuation. These project advances could not have been made without the realized highly effective partnership of the laboratories of the US and Korea PI's.