Search Results
Copper Iodide on Spacer Fabrics as Textile Thermoelectric Device for Energy Generation
The integration of electronic functionalities into textiles for use as wearable sensors, energy harvesters, or coolers has become increasingly important in recent years. A special focus is on efficient thermoelectric materials. Copper iodide as a p-type thermoelectrically active, nontoxic material is attractive for energy harvesting and energy generation because of its transparency and possible high-power factor. The deposition of CuI on polyester spacer fabrics by wet chemical processes represents a great potential for use in textile industry for example as flexible thermoelectric energy generators in the leisure or industrial sector as well as in medical technologies. The deposited material on polyester yarn is investigated by electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and by thermoelectric measurements. The Seebeck coefficient was observed between 112 and 153 µV/K in a temperature range between 30 °C and 90 °C. It is demonstrated that the maximum output power reached 99 nW at temperature difference of 65.5 K with respect to room temperature for a single textile element. However, several elements can be connected in series and the output power can be linear upscaled. Thus, CuI coated on 3D spacer fabrics can be attractive to fabricate thermoelectric devices especially in the lower temperature range for textile medical or leisure applications.
Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells on Fabrics as Large-Scale Detectors for Textile Personal Protective Equipment in Active Laser Safety †
Laser safety is starting to play an increasingly important role, especially when the laser is used as a tool. Passive laser safety systems quickly reach their limits and, in some cases, provide inadequate protection. To counteract this, various active systems have been developed. Flexible and especially textile-protective materials pose a special challenge. The market still lacks personal protective equipment (PPE) for active laser safety. Covering these materials with solar cells as large-area optical detectors offers a promising possibility. In this work, an active laser protection fabric with amorphous silicon solar cells is presented as a large-scale sensor for continuous wave and pulsed lasers (down to ns). First, the fabric and the solar cells were examined separately for irradiation behavior and damage. Laser irradiation was performed at wavelengths of 245, 355, 532, and 808 nm. The solar cell sensors were then applied directly to the laser protection fabric. The damage and destruction behavior of the active laser protection system was investigated. The results show that the basic safety function of the solar cell is still preserved when the locally damaged or destroyed area is irradiated again. A simple automatic shutdown system was used to demonstrate active laser protection within 50 ms.