(June 30, 2015) Over the
years, the telephone has gone mobile, from the house to the car to the pocket.
The University of South Carolina's Xiaodong Li envisions even further
integration of the cell phone – and just about every electronic gadget, for
that matter – into our lives.
He sees a
future where electronics are part of our wardrobe.
"We
wear fabric every day," said Li, a professor of mechanical engineering at
USC. "One day our cotton T-shirts could have more functions; for example,
a flexible energy storage device that could charge your cell phone or your
iPad."
Li is
helping make the vision a reality. He and post-doctoral associate Lihong Bao
have just reported in the journal Advanced Materials how to turn the material
in a cotton T-shirt into a source of electrical power.