Abstract
Thermally drawn multimaterial fibers have experienced rapid development in the past two decades owing to the high scalability, uniformity, and material and structure compatibility of the thermal drawing technique. This article reviews various multimaterial fibers based on different functional structures and their applications in disparate fields. We start from the functional structures achieved in optical fibers developed in the early stage of thermally drawn fibers. Subsequently, we introduce both typical functional structures and unique structures created in multimaterial fibers for varying applications. Next, we present the early attempts in breaking the axial symmetric structures of thermally drawn fibers for extended functionalities. Additionally, we summarize the current progress on creating surface structures on thermally drawn fibers. Finally, we provide an outlook for this trending topic towards wearable devices and smart textiles.
Highlights
Fabrics have served as an indispensable product in everyday life for thousands of years [1]
Functional Structures in Multimaterial Fibers. Inspired by these various fiber structures and applications achieved in optical fibers and the intriguing capabilities of thermal drawing, escalating research interests have been focused on integrating more functional materials into fibers with predesigned structures to explore the potential applications of multimaterial fibers in optoelectronics, electronics, microfluidics, etc
The high scalability, uniformity, and material and structure compatibility of the thermal drawing technique enable a wide range of intriguing applications based on multimaterial fibers
Summary
Fabrics have served as an indispensable product in everyday life for thousands of years [1] They were used in tremendous applications with various forms ranging from small pieces, including bandages and towels, to different kinds of apparel, the basic functions of these fabrics have not evolved much from ancient to modern times. To date, various sophisticated structures have been achieved inside optical fibers, demonstrating many other applications such as fiber laser [11], imaging optics [12], and fiber-optic sensor [13, 14] Encouraged by these achievements in optical fibers, researchers start to incorporate different functional materials such as metals and semiconductors in thermally drawn fibers. We will present the recent studies on creating micro/nanostructures on fiber surfaces at last
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