Researchers Create Clothing Fabric That Works as a Battery

Clothing has a lot of potential, even outside the realm of fashion, as a team of researchers from the Polytechnic School of Montreal were all too eager to show.

We've already seen fabric transistors, which were made out of cotton, of all things.

Now we are faced with what is essentially fabric made out of batteries.

Yes, you read that right. By sticking thermoplastic materials together, the team in Montreal made threads that double as power suppliers.

All they lack are the liquid electrolytes found in regular AA batteries, but that doesn't seem to prevent a piece of this material from producing light in the image above.

Basically, power-generating leather tights are possible, though there is one more inconvenient that needs to be addressed: water resistance.

The battery threads aren't waterproof, so even if they can be safely heated and stretched, they won't survive rain or even sweat.