Electronic fibers and textiles: Recent progress and perspective

Yong Zhang; Huimin Wang; Haojie Lu; Shuo Li; Yingying Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102716

Electronic fibers and textiles: Recent progress and perspective

iScience. 2021 Jun 10;24(7):102716. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102716. eCollection 2021 Jul 23.

Authors

Yong Zhang¹, Huimin Wang¹, Haojie Lu¹, Shuo Li¹, Yingying Zhang¹

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry and Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P. R. China.

Abstract

Wearable electronics are receiving increasing attention with the advances of human society and technologies. Among various types of wearable electronics, electronic fibers/textiles, which integrate the comfort and appearance of conventional fibers/textiles with the functions of electronic devices, are expected to play important roles in remote health monitoring, disease diagnosis/treatment, and human-machine interface. This article aims to review the recent advances in electronic fibers/textiles, thus providing a comprehensive guiding reference for future work. First, we review the selection of functional materials and fabrication strategies of fiber-shaped electronic devices with emphasis on the newly developed functional materials and technologies. Their applications in sensing, light emitting, energy harvest, and energy storage are discussed. Then, the fabrication strategies and applications of electronic textiles are summarized. Furthermore, the integration of multifunctional electronic textiles and their applications are summarized. Finally, we discuss the existing challenges and propose the future development of electronic fibers/textiles.

Keywords: Electronic materials; Fibrous material; Materials property.

Publication types

Review