The potential for wearable electronics goes far beyond smart watches, but our current options for battery packs and circuit boards don't make for the most comfortable E-socks. One solution, being developed by scientists in China, is to simply print flexible fibers on to transitional textiles or clothes. For example, they printed patterns that can harvest and store electricity onto fabrics. With a 3-D printer equipped with a coaxial needle, they drew patterns, pictures, and lettering onto cloth, giving it the ability to transform movement into energy. The advance appears March 27 in Matter, a new materials science journal from publisher Cell Press.
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