Wearable electronics require stretchy components, but such parts are often flat sheets, which limits their ability to be incorporated into fabrics. So Huisheng Peng and his colleagues at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, have developed supercapacitors — devices that store electric charge — in the form of highly stretchable fibres, which can be woven into textiles.

Credit: HUISHENG PENG

The researchers made the supercapacitors by coating rubber fibres with alternating layers of an electrolyte and sheets of carbon nanotubes that act as electrodes. Even when the fibres are stretched more than 100 times to 175% (pictured) of their original length, they still provide a power output that is equivalent to other carbon-based, fibre-shaped supercapacitors that are not stretchy.

Angew. Chem. Int. Edn http://doi.org/f2nqcn (2013)