Wearable ultra-lightweight solar textiles based on transparent electronic fabrics

Abstract

Wearable solar textiles have currently emerged as excellent candidates for potential applications in next-generation wearable functional clothing. Here, we report a wearable ultra-lightweight polymer solar textile based on transparent electronic fabrics (e-fabrics). The transparent e-fabrics with a structure of polyester/Ag nanowires/graphene core-shell have been used as anodes, as well as transparent substrates, for solar textiles. The anode buffer layer and the bulk heterojunction layer were deposited by blade-coating them onto the e-fabrics. The fabricated solar textiles show a power conversion efficiency of 2.27%, a low areal density of 5.0 mg/cm(2), good endurance against mechanical deformations, and high compatibility with clothing. These results indicate that these novel solar textiles hold potential applications in the field of wearable self-powered portable electronics.