Ion Pump Moisture-Electric Yarn

Wearable High-Current Power

A sewable yarn that continuously converts ambient moisture into electrical current for wearable devices.

Sun, Zhouquan · Yujie, Lin · Wang, Shuhan · Li, Kerui · Li, Yaogang · Zhang, Qinghong · Hou, Chengyi · Wang, Hongzhi

Advanced Materials 2026

Specifications

Current density

{'zh': '5.7', 'en': '5.7'} mA cm⁻³

Open-circuit voltage

{'zh': '1', 'en': '1'} V

Output current of 1 m yarn

{'zh': '4.3', 'en': '4.3'} mA

Advantages

Order-of-magnitude higher current

The ion pump simultaneously boosts ion concentration gradient and migration rate, achieving 5.7 mA cm⁻³, outperforming most reported MEGs.

Sewable into textiles

The yarn is lightweight (~0.1 g m⁻¹) and continuous, generating power on contact with moisture without extra encapsulation.

Ready for scale-up

A scalable continuous fabrication process enables single-batch production of hundreds of meters of yarn.

Applications

• Wearable Electronics：Provides battery-free auxiliary power for wristbands, earbuds, and other on-body devices by harvesting moisture from skin and air.
• Smart Textiles：The yarn itself generates power, enabling smart fabrics that integrate energy harvesting directly into clothing for flexible displays and sensors.
• Electronic Skin：Lightweight and sewable, it can be integrated into e-skin for self-powered tactile sensing on human skin or robots.
• Battery-free Sensing：Sensors can operate from ambient moisture, eliminating battery replacement and enabling maintenance-free monitoring.