Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have developed a brand new electrolyte system that considerably boosts the power-harvesting efficiency of twistrons, that are carbon nanotube yarns that generate electrical energy when repeatedly stretched.
The findings may assist within the manufacturing of clever textiles, reminiscent of materials used to make spacesuits, that might energy wearable digital units or sensors by harvesting power from human movement.
In a research printed within the Feb. 24 print version of ACS Nano, the UT Dallas scientists and their collaborators reported that changing typical water with heavy water within the impartial electrolyte answer that bathes the twistrons considerably elevated power output from the yarns.
Normal water includes hydrogen and oxygen atoms. In heavy water, the hydrogen is changed with deuterium, a type of hydrogen that accommodates an added neutron in its nucleus.
Compared to regular water, the heavy water‑based mostly system delivered as much as 2.5 occasions larger peak electrical energy and 1.8 occasions extra power per stretching cycle at low frequencies, between 0.01 hertz (cycles per second) and a couple of hertz. The power conversion effectivity reached 9.5%, which is larger than another beforehand reported twistron harvester working in impartial electrolytes, mentioned Dr. Mengmeng Zhang, corresponding creator of the research and a analysis assistant professor and co-lead of the Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute.
“Although this research focuses primarily on enhancing low-frequency energy harvesting — for example, from human movement or ocean waves — these deuterium-enhanced twistron harvesters also exhibit remarkable harvesting performance at high frequencies, from 2 hertz to 50 hertz,” Zhang mentioned. “Potential higher-frequency uses might include harvesting electricity from rotating car wheels.”
Twistrons are spun yarns produced from carbon nanotubes, hole cylinders of carbon 10,000 occasions smaller in diameter than a human hair. Originally developed by a UT Dallas-led staff and described in 2017 within the journal Science, twistrons had been developed subsequently as three‑ply carbon nanotube yarns comparable in construction to frequent textile fibers, which allows them to be built-in simply into materials.
Twistron efficiency is often maximized when the twistrons are coated by sturdy acid electrolytes, however the corrosive nature of acid limits the fibers’ use in wearable or environmentally delicate programs. Neutral water-based mostly electrolyte options provide a safer different, however they don’t seem to be as environment friendly.
“Our new heavy water‑based electrolyte system overcomes this challenge, providing a noncorrosive option that maintains high performance, particularly in low‑frequency environments such as human activity,” mentioned Ishara Ekanayake, co-first creator of the research and a chemistry doctoral scholar within the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM).
“Using heavy water slows the movement of charged molecules and reduces or minimizes the self-discharging rate, so we can keep more charges on the carbon nanotubes. For energy harvesting, that’s a big benefit — more charges lead to better harvesting performance,” Ekanayake mentioned.
To reveal sensible use, the researchers embedded a twistron yarn array coated in a stable electrolyte gel right into a industrial textile and stretched the fabric to simulate power harvesting from human movement. The captured power efficiently powered wearable digital units.
“We can envision next‑generation wearable fabrics capable of continuously generating electricity from everyday movement to power phones, watches, tablets, laptops and other portable electronics,” Zhang mentioned.
The staff additionally demonstrated thermal‑power harvesting by coupling electrolyte-coated twistron yarns to a polymer‑based mostly synthetic muscle that contracts when heated. As the muscle contracted, it stretched the twistron yarn to supply electrical energy, displaying the know-how’s potential for functions that contain environmental temperature modifications.
The subsequent step within the analysis will embrace figuring out methods to optimize the deuterium-based mostly electrolyte system.
Other UT Dallas researchers concerned within the work are co-first creator Dr. Wenting Cai, who was a visiting scientist from Texas State University; Dr. Shaoli Fang, co-corresponding creator and affiliate analysis professor within the NanoTech Institute; Dr. Anvar Zakhidov, deputy director of the institute and professor of physics; Dr. Ali Aliev, analysis professor within the institute; Ashutosh Shrivastava PhD’25, postdoctoral researcher; Dr. Mihaela Stefan, professor and division head of chemistry and biochemistry; Dr. Michael Biewer, NSM affiliate dean of undergraduate schooling and professor of chemistry; and Dr. Ray Baughman, former director of the institute who died in 2025. Other authors are from Lintec of America Inc., and Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
The analysis was supported by the Office of Naval Research (grants ONR/STTR N68335-18-C-0368, ONR N00014-22-1-2569 and ONR N00014-23-1-2183) and The Welch Foundation.