Manufacturing solar fabrics by electronic dyeing of textiles with 2D heterostructures

电子设备和先进传感器的快速发展，加上对全球变暖的日益关注，推动了对便携式、轻量级和灵活的电源的需求，使我们的建筑智能化，使我们的便携式设备独立于电网。为此，开发能够提供局部电力的低维护高效能源至关重要，特别是在环境条件下。薄膜光伏提供了这样的机会，并且适用于任何表面或设备。研究了从室内光中收集能量的各种环境光光伏技术。太阳能电池板传统上是由光电器件制成的，并且大多使用玻璃等刚性材料作为基板。然而，这对于室内使用并不理想和实用。最近，太阳能织物正被用于建筑综合和室内能源收集。集成到纺织品中的光伏装置，当与袋子、布料等结合使用时，也可以作为便携式电源使用。然而，需要对材料开发和制造进行更多的研究，才能使这种技术更接近应用。为了使纺织品具有光伏发电能力，在保持纺织品柔软、可拉伸性能和最终用户期望的外观和感觉的同时，整合电子功能是至关重要的。然而，由于机织织物的多孔3D结构，将这种复杂的功能集成到纺织品中，与在玻璃甚至塑料柔性基板的平面上制造光伏器件大不相同。该提案解决了与太阳能织物使用二维材料相关的新兴产品的制造问题。自石墨烯分离以来，二维（2D）材料的类别已经扩展，现在包括具有各种原子结构和物理性质的各种材料。太阳能电池特别感兴趣的是半导体过渡金属二硫族化物（TMDC），其带隙范围从可见光到近红外光谱部分（1.1至2.0 eV），单位厚度的吸收系数明显更高（大于Si， GaAs和钙钛矿）。这些特性使它们非常适合用于建筑和室内应用以及轻量级或便携性非常理想的应用的高吸收超薄光伏设备。该研究将开发基于二维材料的太阳能织物的纺织兼容制造，包括半导体TMDCs作为有源层和高导电性石墨烯作为电极。一个关键的成就是开发制造工艺，使太阳能纺织品能够轻松地从原型转换到生产，从而成为真正的产品，而不是概念验证。迄今为止，在纺织品上使用高性能光活性材料已经提供了接近10%的能量转换效率。利用2D/2D异质结作为有源层的基于2D材料的光伏器件已经被证明，其外量子效率超过50%，吸光度超过90%。在纺织品上实现如此高的功率转换效率，超过50%是本研究的第二个关键成就。这项研究将对制造业产生影响，并在医疗保健、机器人和国防等其他领域产生影响。拟议的研究代表了电子纺织品自主性和可靠性的技术飞跃，加强了英国在电子纺织品市场的地位。拟议的研究有可能促进EPSRC的各种繁荣成果，如“P1：引入下一代创新和颠覆性技术”，“P2：确保为国家需求提供负担得起的解决方案”，“C2：实现物联网的转型发展和使用”和“R1：实现能源安全和效率”。

The rapid development of electronic devices and advanced sensors coupled with increasing concerns on global warming are driving requirements for portable, lightweight and flexible power sources to make our buildings smart and our portable devices independent from electricity grids. To this end, it is crucial to develop low-maintenance highly efficient energy sources that can provide local power, especially in ambient conditions. Thin-film photovoltaics offers such opportunity and are adaptable to any surface or device. Various ambient light photovoltaic technologies are investigated for harvesting energy from indoor light. Solar panels are traditionally made of photovoltaic devices and mostly rigid materials such as glass are used as substrates. However, this is not ideal and practical for indoor use. Recently, solar fabrics are being pursued for building integrated and interior energy harvesting. Photovoltaic devices integrated into textiles can also be used as portable power sources when coupled with bags, cloths, etc. However, more research into material development and manufacturing is needed to bring such technology closer to applications. To endow textiles with photovoltaic capability, it is essential to integrate the electronic functionality while maintaining the soft, stretchable properties of the textile, and the look and feel the end-user expects. Integrating such sophisticated function into textiles, however, is vastly different from fabrication of photovoltaic devices on the flat surfaces of glass or even plastic flexible substrates due to the porous, 3D structure of woven fabrics. This proposal addresses the manufacturing of new and emerging products related to the use of 2D materials for solar fabrics. The class of two-dimensional (2D) materials has expanded since since the isolation of graphene and now includes a great diversity of materials with various atomic structure and physical properties. Of particular interest for solar cells are the semiconducting transition metal di-chalcogenide (TMDC), with a band-gap ranging from visible to near infrared part of the spectrum (1.1 to 2.0 eV) and a significantly higher absorption coefficient per unit thickness (greater than Si, GaAs, and perovskites). These properties makes them extremely suitable for highly absorbing ultrathin photovoltaic devices for architectural and indoor applications and applications where lightweight or portability is highly desirable.The proposed research will develop textile-compatible manufacturing of solar fabrics based on 2D materials including semiconducting TMDCs as active layers and highly conductive graphene as electrodes. One key achievement is to develop manufacturing processes that easily translate from prototyping to production to enable solar textiles to become real products rather than proofs-of-concept. To date, the use of high performance photoactive materials on textiles has provided power conversion efficiency approaching 10%. Photovoltaic devices based on 2D materials using 2D/2D heterojunctions as active layers have been demonstrated, exhibiting external quantum efficiencies exceeding 50% and absorbance exceeding 90%. Achieving such high power conversion efficiencies on textiles, above 50% is the second key achievement for the investigations pursued here. This research will have impact and make a difference in the manufacturing area but also in other sectors such as healthcare, robotics and defence. The proposed research represents a technology leap towards autonomy and reliability of e-textile, reinforcing UK's position in e-textile markets. The proposed research has the potential to contribute various EPSRC prosperity outcomes such as "P1: Introduce the next generation of innovative and disruptive technologies", "P2: Ensure affordable solutions for national needs", "C2: Achieve transformational development and use of the Internet of Things" and "R1: Achieve energy security and efficiency".