Scalable Manufacturing of Functional Yarns for Textile-based Energy Storage

Smart textile technologies with advanced functionalities (e.g., sensing, physical actuation) are being developed for military and civilian applications. These products have, to date, been powered by conventional energy storage systems that can significantly limit the multi-functional aspects of product design. Next generation products are envisioned that rely on integrated energy storage technologies, however, such approaches have been limited by the availability of affordable manufacturing techniques for textile based energy storage systems. In this work, a high rate, continuous vapor deposition technique will be utilized to create long lengths of functionalized fibers suitable for use in energy storage systems based on supercapacity. These fibers will be incorporated into durable, textile based energy storage systems. The resulting materials will then be tested for energy storage performance and integrated into wearable materials.