Abstract
Mechanoluminescence (ML), which emits light upon external mechanical stress, was applied to fibrous composites. Herein, ML particles were incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electrospun webs to prepare ML/PVDF and ML/PAN composite fabrics. The produced fabrics were treated with O2 and C4F8 plasma to modify the wetting properties, then the effects of composite wettability on the light-emitting response in dry and wet conditions were investigated. The light intensity was greatly decreased when the composite fabrics absorbed water. When the composites were hydrophobized by the C4F8 plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process, the original light intensity was protected in wet conditions, while maintaining the water vapor transmission rate. As the clothing material would be exposed to moisture in varied situations, the reduced ML sensitivity in wet conditions may limit the application of ML composite fabrics. The findings suggest a facile strategy to fabricate moisture-resistant, breathable mechanoluminescence composite fabrics.
Highlights
The vigorous development of smart textiles has led to a new era of lifestyle
Most current smart textiles are powered by traditional rechargeable batteries which are large, heavy, and bulky; they are unsuitable to properly integrate with textiles, making the consolidation of a single system infeasible [2]
One way to fulfill the demands of mechanical sensors that work without batteries is by using mechanoluminescence
Summary
The vigorous development of smart textiles has led to a new era of lifestyle. Countless smart textiles or devices are capable of monitoring and sensing natural phenomena around everyday life [1]. Most current smart textiles are powered by traditional rechargeable batteries which are large, heavy, and bulky; they are unsuitable to properly integrate with textiles, making the consolidation of a single system infeasible [2]. For this reason, there is a special interest to develop pliable and lightweight alternatives for electrical power generation and storage, such as flexible and elastic batteries [3,4,5], supercapacitors [6], photovoltaic [7], thermoelectric [8], and piezoelectric generators [9,10]. The development of mechanoluminescent (ML) materials has contributed to a broad source of multi-functional components with a wide range of applications in Polymers 2020, 12, 1720; doi:10.3390/polym12081720 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers
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