Researchers working on ‘Iron Man’ suit that can charge phones

Soon people won't have to carry their chargers or powerbanks everywhere with them, as researchers are working on ‘Iron Man’ suits that can charge cell phones.

Engineers at University of Cincinnati, partnering with Air Force Research Laboratory, are working together to manufacture a new clothing that will let people charge their gadgets. They are developing an excess of carbon technology, including ‘Iron Man’ suits that are able to store power in carbon nanotubes, currently under testing.

According to researchers, this technology can revolutionize and power everything from clothing to warplanes, as per Daily Mail. The nanotubes were grown on small silicon wafer under heat in a vacuum chamber via a process known as ‘chemical vapor deposition’.

The tiny fibrous squares were later stretched resulting in the carbon sheet turn to a spun thread, which was described as being similar to a spider’s silk and turned into a textile, explained Fox News.

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“It’s exactly like a textile,” said professor Vesselin Shanov. “We can assemble them like a machine thread and use them in applications ranging from sensors to track heavy metals in water or energy storage devices, including super capacitors and batteries.”

One of the uses of this technology in military is replacing heavy batteries that charge electronics on a soldier’s gears such as lights, communications gear and night-vision, as this would make their gear more light-weight and agile, as one-third of the weight they carry is just the batteries to power equipment.

However, at present, the lab can only manufacture around 50 yards of carbon nanotube thread at a time, which way to less than what is needed for commercial uses. Benji Maruyama from Air Force Research Laboratory admits that there’s more work to be done to get the project up to scale.

Also, the products won’t be available in markets soon is because of the expensive costs. Graduate student Mark Haase explained, “We’re working with clients who care more about performance than cost. But once we perfect synthesis, scale goes up considerably and costs should drop accordingly. Then we'll see carbon nanotubes spread to many, many more applications.”