Passive Components Blog
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • NewsFilter
    • All
    • Aerospace & Defence
    • Antenna
    • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Capacitors
    • Circuit Protection Devices
    • electro-mechanical news
    • Filters
    • Fuses
    • Inductors
    • Industrial
    • Integrated Passives
    • inter-connect news
    • Market & Supply Chain
    • Market Insights
    • Medical
    • Modelling and Simulation
    • New Materials & Supply
    • New Technologies
    • Non-linear Passives
    • Oscillators
    • Passive Sensors News
    • Resistors
    • RF & Microwave
    • Telecommunication
    • Weekly Digest

    Bourns Increases Maximum Inductance Values of Semi-Shielded Power Inductors

    YAGEO Unveils Next Gen BMS Isolation Transformers

    Littelfuse Compact Tactile Switch Offers Low-Noise Switching and Dust Protection

    Murata Announces Mass Manufacturing of World’s First 0402 47µF MLCC

    Bourns Releases SMD Chip High-Power Metal Strip Current Sense Resistors in 2010 Case

    Würth Elektronik Releases High-Frequency Connectors for Antenna Cables

    Murata Releases First High-Frequency XBAR Filter for Next-Gen Networks

    Vishay NTC Immersion Thermistor Delivers Fast Response in Liquid Cooled Automotive Systems

    Wk 27 Electronics Supply Chain Digest

    Trending Tags

    • Ripple Current
    • RF
    • Leakage Current
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
    • Snubber
    • Low ESR
    • Feedthrough
    • Derating
    • Dielectric Constant
    • New Products
    • Market Reports
  • VideoFilter
    • All
    • Antenna videos
    • Capacitor videos
    • Circuit Protection Video
    • Filter videos
    • Fuse videos
    • Inductor videos
    • Inter-Connect Video
    • Non-linear passives videos
    • Oscillator videos
    • Passive sensors videos
    • Resistor videos

    Accelerating Full Bridge LLC Resonant Converter Design with Frenetic AI

    Understanding Switched Capacitor Converters

    Coupled Inductors Circuit Model and Examples of its Applications

    Inductor Resonances and its Impact to EMI

    Highly Reliable Flex Rigid PCBs, Würth Elektronik Webinar

    Causes of Oscillations in Flyback Converters

    How to design a 60W Flyback Transformer

    Modeling and Simulation of Leakage Inductance

    Power Inductor Considerations for AI High Power Computing – Vishay Video

    Trending Tags

    • Capacitors explained
    • Inductors explained
    • Resistors explained
    • Filters explained
    • Application Video Guidelines
    • EMC
    • New Products
    • Ripple Current
    • Simulation
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Suppliers
    • Who is Who
  • Events
  • Home
  • NewsFilter
    • All
    • Aerospace & Defence
    • Antenna
    • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Capacitors
    • Circuit Protection Devices
    • electro-mechanical news
    • Filters
    • Fuses
    • Inductors
    • Industrial
    • Integrated Passives
    • inter-connect news
    • Market & Supply Chain
    • Market Insights
    • Medical
    • Modelling and Simulation
    • New Materials & Supply
    • New Technologies
    • Non-linear Passives
    • Oscillators
    • Passive Sensors News
    • Resistors
    • RF & Microwave
    • Telecommunication
    • Weekly Digest

    Bourns Increases Maximum Inductance Values of Semi-Shielded Power Inductors

    YAGEO Unveils Next Gen BMS Isolation Transformers

    Littelfuse Compact Tactile Switch Offers Low-Noise Switching and Dust Protection

    Murata Announces Mass Manufacturing of World’s First 0402 47µF MLCC

    Bourns Releases SMD Chip High-Power Metal Strip Current Sense Resistors in 2010 Case

    Würth Elektronik Releases High-Frequency Connectors for Antenna Cables

    Murata Releases First High-Frequency XBAR Filter for Next-Gen Networks

    Vishay NTC Immersion Thermistor Delivers Fast Response in Liquid Cooled Automotive Systems

    Wk 27 Electronics Supply Chain Digest

    Trending Tags

    • Ripple Current
    • RF
    • Leakage Current
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
    • Snubber
    • Low ESR
    • Feedthrough
    • Derating
    • Dielectric Constant
    • New Products
    • Market Reports
  • VideoFilter
    • All
    • Antenna videos
    • Capacitor videos
    • Circuit Protection Video
    • Filter videos
    • Fuse videos
    • Inductor videos
    • Inter-Connect Video
    • Non-linear passives videos
    • Oscillator videos
    • Passive sensors videos
    • Resistor videos

    Accelerating Full Bridge LLC Resonant Converter Design with Frenetic AI

    Understanding Switched Capacitor Converters

    Coupled Inductors Circuit Model and Examples of its Applications

    Inductor Resonances and its Impact to EMI

    Highly Reliable Flex Rigid PCBs, Würth Elektronik Webinar

    Causes of Oscillations in Flyback Converters

    How to design a 60W Flyback Transformer

    Modeling and Simulation of Leakage Inductance

    Power Inductor Considerations for AI High Power Computing – Vishay Video

    Trending Tags

    • Capacitors explained
    • Inductors explained
    • Resistors explained
    • Filters explained
    • Application Video Guidelines
    • EMC
    • New Products
    • Ripple Current
    • Simulation
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Suppliers
    • Who is Who
  • Events
No Result
View All Result
Passive Components Blog
No Result
View All Result

Stretchable Micro-Supercapacitors to Self-Power Wearable Devices

14.12.2020
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
A team of international researchers, led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in Penn State's Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, has developed a self-powered, stretchable system that will be used in wearable health-monitoring and diagnostic devices.
IMAGE: Penn State College of Engineering

A team of international researchers, led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in Penn State's Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, has developed a self-powered, stretchable system that will be used in wearable health-monitoring and diagnostic devices. IMAGE: Penn State College of Engineering

A stretchable system that can harvest energy from human breathing and motion for use in wearable health-monitoring devices may be possible, according to an international team of researchers, led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor in Penn State’s Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics.

The research team, with members from Penn State and Minjiang University and Nanjing University, both in China, recently published its results in Nano Energy. 

RelatedPosts

Bourns Increases Maximum Inductance Values of Semi-Shielded Power Inductors

YAGEO Unveils Next Gen BMS Isolation Transformers

Littelfuse Compact Tactile Switch Offers Low-Noise Switching and Dust Protection

According to Cheng, current versions of batteries and supercapacitors powering wearable and stretchable health-monitoring and diagnostic devices have many shortcomings, including low energy density and limited stretchability. 

“This is something quite different than what we have worked on before, but it is a vital part of the equation,” Cheng said, noting that his research group and collaborators tend to focus on developing the sensors in wearable devices. “While working on gas sensors and other wearable devices, we always need to combine these devices with a battery for powering. Using micro-supercapacitors gives us the ability to self-power the sensor without the need for a battery.”

An alternative to batteries, micro-supercapacitors are energy storage devices that can complement or replace lithium-ion batteries in wearable devices. Micro-supercapacitors have a small footprint, high power density, and the ability to charge and discharge quickly. However, according to Cheng, when fabricated for wearable devices, conventional micro-supercapacitors have a “sandwich-like” stacked geometry that displays poor flexibility, long ion diffusion distances and a complex integration process when combined with wearable electronics.

This led Cheng and his team to explore alternative device architectures and integration processes to advance the use of micro-supercapacitors in wearable devices. They found that arranging micro-supercapacitor cells in a serpentine, island-bridge layout allows the configuration to stretch and bend at the bridges, while reducing deformation of the micro-supercapacitors — the islands. When combined, the structure becomes what the researchers refer to as “micro-supercapacitors arrays.”

“By using an island-bridge design when connecting cells, the micro-supercapacitor arrays displayed increased stretchability and allowed for adjustable voltage outputs,” Cheng said. “This allows the system to be reversibly stretched up to 100%.”

By using non-layered, ultrathin zinc-phosphorus nanosheets and 3D laser-induced graphene foam — a highly porous, self-heating nanomaterial — to construct the island-bridge design of the cells, Cheng and his team saw drastic improvements in electric conductivity and the number of absorbed charged ions. This proved that these micro-supercapacitor arrays can charge and discharge efficiently and store the energy needed to power a wearable device.

The researchers also integrated the system with a triboelectric nanogenerator, an emerging technology that converts mechanical movement to electrical energy. This combination created a self-powered system.

“When we have this wireless charging module that’s based on the triboelectric nanogenerator, we can harvest energy based on motion, such as bending your elbow or breathing and speaking,” Cheng said. “We are able to use these everyday human motions to charge the micro-supercapacitors.”

By combining this integrated system with a graphene-based strain sensor, the energy-storing micro-supercapacitor arrays — charged by the triboelectric nanogenerators — are able to power the sensor, Cheng said, showing the potential for this system to power wearable, stretchable devices. 

Other researchers on this project were Cheng Zeng, assistant professor; Zhixiang Peng, research assistant; Chao Xing, associate professor; Huaming Chen, associate professor; Chunlei Huang, assistant professor, and Jun Wang, professor, all at Minjiang University; Bingwen Zhang, assistant professor at the Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Marine Sensing Materials at Minjiang University; and Shaolong Tang, professor of physics, Nanjing University. 

The National Natural Science Foundation of China; the Educational Commission of Fujian Province for Youths; the U.S. National Science Foundation; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health supported this work.

Related

Source: PennState

Recent Posts

Murata Announces Mass Manufacturing of World’s First 0402 47µF MLCC

10.7.2025
17

VINATech Supercapacitors Enhance Automotive Safety with Reliable E-Latch Emergency Power

7.7.2025
37

Exxelia Unveils Advanced Components for the Medical Device Industry

9.7.2025
47

YAGEO Releases First to Market 750V Aluminum Capacitors

30.6.2025
51

Smolteks CNF-MIM Capacitors Meet Thermal and Voltage Stability Industry Requirements

30.6.2025
23

Learn How Supercapacitors Enhance Power System in Knowles eBook

30.6.2025
23

TDK Releases Industry First 1uF 100V X7R MLCCs in 1608 Case

27.6.2025
25

YAGEO Extends Lifetime of its Aluminum SMD Chip Capacitors to 5500hrs at 125C/Ur

27.6.2025
60

Murata Releases Worlds First 10µF/50V Automotive MLCC in 0805 Size

26.6.2025
58

Advancements and Applications of Switch Capacitor Power Converters

25.6.2025
39

Upcoming Events

Jul 16
16:00 - 17:00 CEST

Design a 2kW PSFB converter before your cold drink gets warm

Jul 23
13:00 - 14:00 CEST

PCB design for a Smartwatch

Jul 29
16:00 - 17:00 CEST

Impact of Elevated Voltage and Temperature on Molded Power Inductors in DC/DC converters

View Calendar

Popular Posts

  • Buck Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Boost Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Flyback Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • LLC Resonant Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is a Dielectric Constant and DF of Plastic Materials?

    4 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 0
  • Ripple Current and its Effects on the Performance of Capacitors

    3 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 0
  • How to Design an Inductor

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Dual Active Bridge (DAB) Topology Explained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Why Low ESR Matters in Capacitor Design

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • SEPIC Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter Subscription

 

Passive Components Blog

© EPCI - Leading Passive Components Educational and Information Site

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • EPCI Membership & Advertisement
  • About

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Premium Suppliers

© EPCI - Leading Passive Components Educational and Information Site

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version