Zuzana Zmatekova, Janne Halme, Elina Ilén, Maarit Salolainen

Sun-powered textiles - Moiré Jacket

Dialogue between design and science

The Sun-powered Textiles collection was designed and developed to be able to harvest solar energy. The solar cells are hidden underneath a textile layer providing a broader freedom of design, while producing enough energy for powering wearable devices. Sun-powered Textiles are a result of cross-disciplinary collaboration between the Department of Design and Department of Applied Physics in Aalto University. In collaboration were also companies Foxa Oy, Haltian Oy and Lindström Oy. The main objectives in the project were

1) to understand how the textile materials and structures affect the solar cell performance and

2) to find optimal solar cell cover materials by measuring the optical properties of textiles.

The project was funded by Business Finland. https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-design/hidden-photovoltaics-enables-freedom-to-design-e-textiles