All-Polymeric stretchable conductive fiber with versatile intelligent wearable applications via microfluidic spinning technology

Abstract

It remains a great challenge to fabricate all-polymer stretchable conductive fibers simultaneously presenting high mechanical robustness, high stretchability, and high conductivity through convenient and fast process, even though they exhibit great application potential in the intelligent wearable fields in replacement of the traditional metal wires or the liquid metal-based conductive fibers. In this paper, an all-polymeric fiber with core–shell structure is continuously produced through co-axial microfluidic spinning strategy. The composition of the fluids and the processing parameters of MST are regulated to adjust the size of the obtained PU@PEDOT:PSS fiber, and then optimizing its electric properties and the mechanical performances. The polyurethane (PU) elastic shell layer and the H2SO4-doped PEDOT:PSS conductive core provide the obtained composite fiber with a high conductivity exceeding 220 S m−1, as well as an impressive stretchability up to above 400 % strain, thus endowing it with versatile intelligent wearable applications, including the super-sensitive strain sensor for human motions monitoring, textile-based triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered impact sensing, and the electro-thermal conversion fabric for keep warming.