Research Supervisor Connect
Developing carbon fibre based fibre supercapacitors and wearable devices
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Masters/PHD
Mankind has always desired to augment natural abilities to better adapt to and control the environments. In science fiction, people have long been interested with a future where humans and machines become one. At the current stage, wearable devices are clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic techniques, which help to expand our natural abilities. From wristbands and glasses to clothing and even body embedded devices, wearable technology is undergoing a rapid evolution and growth. A fundamental challenge of developing sustainable wearable devices is to find efficient energy solutions. New generation of sensors is also necessary to create a closer relationship between wearable devices and the human body. We are particularly interested in utilizing carbon nanomaterials to address three issues for creating new generation of wearable devices: (1) developing hybrid carbon fibres for high performance fabric/textile energy storage devices with long-term cyclability and good wearability, (2) exploring stretchable fibre sensors to detect body motion and ion signals for monitoring the physiology of wearers, and (3) building carbon nanotube-polymer composite based light weight and flexible thermoelectric generators to recover waste heat from the wearers to electrical energy without the need of carrying additional batteries.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 2031