(Invited) Two-Dimensional Materials for Wearable Electronics

Abstract

The term “smart-clothes” has been applied over the past few years referring to the attachment of commercial (rigid) electronic devices to an article of clothing with applications mostly in performance sports or futuristic fashion shows. An actual smart fabric comprising the seamless integration of soft (flexible) electronics within the textile itself is still mainly in the R&D stages at prohibitively high manufacturing costs. Two-dimensional materials, such as graphene and Mxene, have demonstrated attractive electrical and electrochemical properties for flexible electronic applications. However, their direct incorporation into textile structures for truly "wearable" applications have rarely been investigated or demonstrated. In this talk, we will introduce the recent progress of our research group on relevant topics, namely 1) 2D-material based hybrid yarns as supercapacitors via industrialized wet-spinning processes, and 2) wearable microsupercapacitors on various textile structures (PET or Cotton fabrics, and PP or nylon nonwovens) with good washfastness and high flexibility. We will focus on the fundamental aspects and major technological obstacles of the integration of novel functional materials with traditional textile processings and products.