Wearable supercapacitor technology ‘could power medical devices’

Researchers have developed supercapacitor technology that could be used in the design of wearable power sources for medical devices in future.

An international team of engineers and scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Tsinghua University in China and Case Western Reserve University in the US have created a means of producing a fibre-like energy storage device that can be woven into clothing.

Comprised of a tightly interconnected network of graphene and carbon nanotubes, the device offers the highest reported storage capacity for a carbon-based microscale supercapacitors to date at 6.3 microwatt hours per cubic millimetre.

It stores energy comparable to some thin-film lithium batteries, while maintaining the advantage of charging and releasing energy much faster than a battery. Clothing incorporating such technology could power biomedical monitoring devices in future.

Study contributor Liming Dai, of Case Western Reserve University, said: "The team is also interested in testing these fibres for multifunctional applications, including batteries, solar cells, biofuel cells and sensors for flexible and wearable optoelectronic systems."

Such innovations could help to support current efforts in the UK to provide more patients with the option of being treated and monitored at home or in the community, rather than in hospital.