Latest News: Murata is working on creating new business models. In July, the company passed PIECLEX (with Teijin Frontier) Frontier) has introduced masks that use autonomous materials that generate electricity when the wearer moves. This is the first product to launch PIECLEX. In the future, it will expand the business of clothing products and sales of fibers to clothing companies, and strive to achieve sales of 10 billion yen in fiscal 2025.
Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has launched masks through its co-investment company PIECLEX, using its own fiber PIECLEX. This fiber is made using polylactic acid derived from plants such as corn. Polylactic acid crystals have the function of generating electric charges when deformed.
Therefore, after wearing clothes or masks made of PIECLEX materials, electricity is generated when a person moves. It has been confirmed by experiments that it can kill bacteria that enter the interior of the fiber. Compared with antibacterial agents derived from pharmaceuticals, it is considered to be more friendly to the human body and the environment. The head of the brand team, Takafumi Inoue, said that the electricity generated was so weak that people could not feel it.
Masks are available in Rakuten Group and Just in July Systems' website for sale. The price of a mask is 2,000 yen (about 100 yuan). As a mask, the price is high, but it is reported that the cost of this self-made material is "about 10 times" compared with ordinary polyester fibers, so such a price was set (Takafumi Inoue said).
At present, the sales of masks are good, and Inoue said that he has received the next batch of inventory orders. Products are produced at Teijin Frontier's domestic factory in Japan.
