Ultra-fine self-powered interactive fiber electronics for smart clothing

Abstract

Fiber electronics discretely integrated into daily life is taking center stage for its enormous potentials for healthcare, physiological monitoring, and human-machine interfaces. However, the state-of-the-art fiber electronics are remarkably distinguished from generic fibers in diameter, stiffness, smoothness, and productivity. Here, we developed a universal scalable manufacturing process and generic fiber-like fine and soft self-powered interactive electronics with a diameter of only dozens of μm and a continuous length of hundreds of kilometers. These fiber electronics are prepared with a large-scale manufacturing speed (>20 m/min), and adapt to modern textile technology including weaving, knitting, sewing and embroidering. Moreover, Kawabata evaluation system for fabrics was systematically employed to analyze the fiber electronics enabled e-textile’s sensorial comfort, suggesting that adding the fiber electronics to fabric benefits its tactile sensations (e.g., softness, fluffy and fullness). Based on tribotronics, the interactive fiber electronics-based smart clothing demonstrates versatile applications including biomechanical energy harvesting, vital signal detecting, human motion recognizing and tactile sensing.