A professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design makes another breakthrough in the world of fashion with the development of cotton threads that can conduct electric current as well as a metal wire, while remaining flexible and comfortable to wear. This technology is so efficient that simply knotting the threads is enough to create a complete circuit. A solar-powered dress with this technology literally woven into its fabric will be featured at the annual Cornell Design League Fashion Show on Saturday, March 13 at Cornell University’s Barton Hall.

The multidisciplinary nanotechnology that helped in developing a technique to permanently coat cotton fibers with electrically conductive nanoparticles was developed at Cornell University in collaboration with the universities at Bologna and Cagliari, Italy. The concept has been seen gaining a lot of popularity across the science community, and we can expect some real progress in the idea of wearable electronics. A student at Cornell has already designed a dress that uses flexible solar cells to power small electronics from a USB charger located in the waist. The charger can power a smartphone or an MP3 player.

Via: Treehugger522812