New Technology Turns Cotton and Polyester Fabrics Into Batteries
The BBC reports about a technology that can turn cotton and polyester fabrics into batteries while retaining the fabrics flexibility. The technology was reported in the journal, Nano Letters. It will likely lead to new wearable electronics.
The idea is the same as that outlined in their work with plain paper; the interwoven fibres of fabrics, like those of paper, are particularly suited to absorbing the nanotube ink, maintaining an electrical connection across the whole area of a garment.
Cloth is simply dipped into a batch of nanotube dye, and is then pressed, to thin and even out the coating.
The fabric maintains its properties even as it is stretched or folded. Even rinsing the samples in water and wringing them out does not change their electronic properties.
Today's wearable fabrics involve a small battery being hidden somewhere within the clothes. With this new technology the battery becomes part of the shirt, tie or dress.
The BBC 
