Smart textiles: A toolkit to fashion the future

Rebecca R Ruckdashel,Jay Hoon Park,Dhanya Venkataraman

doi:10.1063/5.0024006

Rebecca R Ruckdashel, Jay Hoon Park + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0024006

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Abstract

Smart textiles are adaptive materials that use established textile methods to integrate multifunctionalities beyond apparels. Despite recent advancement, a significant gap exists between commercial needs and the academic state of the art. In this perspective, we aim to address the gap by (i) holistically investigating smart textile system operation, (ii) exploring production methods and materials for stimuli-responsive smart textiles, (iii) discussing key emerging application areas for stimuli-responsive textiles, and (iv) identifying markets, production techniques, and strategies for future development. Stimuli-responsive smart textiles rely on materials and processes to interact with the environment and wearer. Smart textile applications, such as assistive soft robotics, smart healing, and thermal comfort regulation, require textiles to meet the needs of form and function. Smart textile commercialization requires the identification of markets ready for adaptive textiles, wherein a smart phone or patch does not address the consumer needs. Interdisciplinary collaborations can focus efforts to the right applications, bridging the gap between academic research and product relevance, bringing smart textiles into the future.

Highlights

We aim to address the gap by (i) holistically investigating smart textile system operation, (ii) exploring production methods and materials for stimuli-responsive smart textiles, (iii) discussing key emerging application areas for stimuli-responsive textiles, and (iv) identifying markets, production techniques, and strategies for future development
We investigate the state of stimuliresponsive textiles by (i) comparing system operation between electronic and nonelectronic smart textiles; (ii) exploring techniques and materials to produce fully-textile, stimuli-responsive textiles; (iii) describing emerging applications in soft assistive robotics, smart healing, and thermal comfort; and (iv) identifying new approaches to commercialize, produce, and invent
Smart textiles span electronic textiles and adaptive textiles, yet the future is in fully textile non-electronic solutions, so-called “stimuli-responsive textiles.”

Summary

Introduction

Smart textiles are creative artifacts that are adaptable to changing needs and empower experiential learning.[1,2,3,4,5] They convert stimuli into responses, interacting dynamically with five senses—olfactory, visual, auditory, haptic, or tactile.[6,7,8,9,10] Clothing is a great platform for “smart” functionalities because it is ubiquitous, worn by everyone, covers a large percentage of the human body, and is form-fitting for direct skin contact.[11,12] While “smart textile” has been synonymous with “electronic textile,”[13] the last decade has seen the emergence of textiles that are “smart” without electronics. Non-electronic smart textiles circumnavigate integration challenges such as soldering, low washability, and decreased lifetime;[14] these smart textiles are more wearable because they do not include bulky electronics.[7,15,16] These “stimuli-responsive textiles” have applications in soft robotics and artificial muscles, targeted drug release and wound monitoring, and soft actuators and sensors.[9,10,17]

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