One of the biggest problems that technology has, is its inability to run without power. People who develop slow draining batteries only allow us to use our devices for a period of time. Still, it gets drained and we are left with a paper weight down our pants.
Still, a number of individuals try to alleviate our problems. The said persons try to invent ways on how we could power up our dead smartphones.
One such device is the work of two engineers from the University of South Carolina. The two developed a way to charge our devices with what we usually have with us when we’re out, a t-shirt.
Xiaodong Li who was a part of the team said, “By stacking these supercapacitors up, we should be able to charge portable electronic devices such as cellphones.”
Li and Lihong Bao bought a shirt from a store, soaked it in fluoride, dried it, then baked it in an oven without oxygen.
They then examined the shirt and discovered that the fibers of the cotton had turned into activated carbon. They also discovered that activated carbon can store electrical charge as a capacitor.
They then added a layer of manganese oxide to improve the shirt’s electricity-storing capability.
Li said that, “This created a stable, high-performing supercapacitor.”
We might be seeing this charged shirts anytime in the future. Let’s just hope that it will not electrocute us.
Would you charge your smartphone with your shirt?
Image Source: threepointmotors.com
