Wearable textile power module based on flexible ferroelectret and supercapacitor

The rapid development of electronic textiles imposes a challenge on the power supply devices that, unlike conventional rigid batteries, ideally should be compatible with the mechanical properties. It would be highly advantageous if the power supply was integrated within the same textile as the system it is powering. This communication presents for the first time a textile power module that combines a ferroelectret biomechanical energy harvester and solid‐state supercapacitor energy storage fabricated in a single woven cotton textile layer. The textile power module is highly flexible and the fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) based ferroelectret can generate electric energy with an instantaneous output voltage of ∼10 V and power density of ∼2.5 µW cm−2. The activated carbon and non‐toxic gel electrolyte based solid‐state supercapacitor demonstrates a capacitance of 5.55 mF cm‐2 and excellent stability after mechanically straining the textile. The textile power module can be charged to around 0.45 V in 3600 s with a compressive cyclical for of 350 N applied at 1 Hz. This work demonstrates a promising combination of materials and devices for achieving a self contained integrated power supply for e‐textile applications.