Think of a T-shirt where you can walk around with any pattern and color you want, or even charge your phone directly and get electricity. Here’s that t-shirt turned into reality by scientists. Scientists from Cambridge University have succeeded in developing the smart fabric produced entirely by touch.
1.16 meters wide in total, the smart fabric has the potential to be a way to curtains, energy-harvesting carpets and interactive and self-powering clothes and fabrics to be used as ‘televisions’ in the future, according to scientists’ statements. It is stated that all kinds of daily items can be turned into smart gadgets.
It became the world’s first smart fabric produced with typical industrial processes:
The research, the results of which were published in the journal Nature Communications, also revealed the difference of the invention we see in the images from similar technologies. Accordingly, this fabric is the first to integrate a large, scalable and complex system that can be produced with typical textile industrial processes. The fabric can be folded, rolled or twisted just like regular fabric.
This developed technology can place functions directly into textile yarns and fibers. In addition, the fabric remains robust, as each fiber component is coated with materials made to withstand stretching. The fabric can be operated as a screen as well as store energy. The team behind the fabric plans to turn the fabric into flexible batteries, supercapacitors, solar panels and more.