The device is made of a thin layer of fabric, only about 0.3mm in thickness, with sea salt, carbon ink, and a special water-absorbing gel.
The team of researchers from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) said that conventional devices that use moisture to generate energy cannot produce enough to power electrical devices, whereas their rechargeable fabric-like ‘battery’ provides higher electrical output than a conventional AA battery.
The new device contains two regions of different properties to perpetually maintain a difference in water content across the regions to generate electricity and allow for electrical output for hundreds of hours.
It consists of a thin layer of fabric – in this case a commercially available fabric made of wood pulp and polyester – which was coated with carbon nanoparticles.
The prototype...