Fully Printed Stretchable and Multifunctional E‐Textiles for Aesthetic Wearable Electronic Systems

Abstract

cloth materials, textiles are an ideal substrate for flexible wearable electronics due to their outstanding mechanical properties, good flexibility and softness, conformal contact with skin, and excellent wearing comfort. [11,12] Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop new smart electronic textiles (e-textiles) that can integrate the functionality of electronics and the comfort of textiles. [13,14] In particular, a facile, low-cost, and high-throughput manufacturing method for the fabrication of robust and reliable e-textiles is essential to future commercial applications of a variety of wearable electronics.Currently, there are two major approaches in fabricating e-textiles: i) weaving or integrating electronic fibers made by wet spinning into textiles; [15][16][17] and ii) depositing conductive materials onto textile surfaces. [18][19][20] Coating methods such as spray-coating and dip coating, have the advantages of simplicity, fast, and low cost, and are the most commonly used methods for depositing conductive materials on textiles. [2,21] However, they are constraint by the entire surface deposition and cannot be patterned with aesthetic design. [22] The as-prepared e-textiles with this method need to be further integrated into clothing for real wearable applications. [23,24] Textile printing is widely used in the clothing industry for pattern decoration by directly screen-printing various inks onto the clothes. [25,26] Screen printing is another simple, fast, low-cost, and high-throughput fabrication technology. With a tailored new conductive ink and high-resolution screen-printing plate, it is expected to achieve a low-cost and mass production of printed e-textiles that has both electronics functionality and visual aesthetics. However, recent research on printed e-textiles has paid little attention to the aesthetics of printed electronics and the lack of high-resolution patterns for aesthetic designs also limits the development of smart clothing. [27,28] On the other hand, the stretchability of e-textiles is extremely important for wearable applications because human body motion and deformation may generate a tensile strain as large as 55% in normal daily activities. [29] Most reported printed e-textiles only demonstrated good flexibility but very low stretchability due to the cracking of conductive layers printed on the textile. [28,[30][31][32] Recently, Someya et al. fabricated a printed e-textile with a stretchability of up to 450% by adjusting Electronic textiles (e-textiles) that combine the wearing comfort of textiles and the functionality of soft electronics are highly demanded in wearable applications. However, fabricating robust high-performance stretchable e-textiles with good abrasion resistance and high-resolution aesthetic patterns for highthroughput manufacturing and practical applications remains challenging. Herein, the authors report a new multifunctional e-textile fabricated via screen printing of the water-based silver fractal dendrites conductive ink. The as-fabricated e-textiles s...

Air-permeable and flexible multifunctional cellulose-based textiles for bio-protection, thermal heating conversion, and electromagnetic interference shielding

“…[17][18][19] Commercially available polymeric or biobased textiles are regarded as appropriate substrates for the design and scalable manufacture of cost-effective electronic textiles due to their inherent light weight, exibility, comfort, and permeability. 20,21 However, combining novel functionality with the inherent comfort, permeability, and porous qualities of textile substrates still remains a challenge.…”

Durability Study of Thermal Transfer Printed Textile Electrodes for Wearable Electronic Applications

“…For example, when 12 V voltage is applied, the large-sized fabric heater presents a uniform temperature distribution with a saturation temperature of ∼40 °C (Figure 7g), which can be used for joint and abdominal thermotherapy. 64 In addition, we also tested the durability of the fabric heater by washing. As shown in Figure S23, after 5 washing−drying cycles, the laminated coil still maintains excellent electric heating performance, indicating good durability and wearability.…”

“…Figure e shows the electric heating performance of the fabric heater, and the saturation temperature increases along with the applied voltage. For example, when 12 V voltage is applied, the large-sized fabric heater presents a uniform temperature distribution with a saturation temperature of ∼40 °C (Figure g), which can be used for joint and abdominal thermotherapy . In addition, we also tested the durability of the fabric heater by washing.…”

Advances in the Robustness of Wearable Electronic Textiles: Strategies, Stability, Washability and Perspective

“…In a different study, contradictory washing behavior was observed for a pressure sensor made of a non-woven fabric coated with carbon nanotubes using the nano-soldering method, which showed better water washing performance than detergent washing for a period of 48 h (Figure 10g) [266]. However, in another study, screen-printed electronic textiles with Ag ink showed a more stable electrical behavior for prolonged immersion (24 h) in water compared to immersion with synthetic perspiration for the same period (Figure 10h) [267]. The water used to wash has a certain influence on the washing efficiency and damages the functionality of the substrate, especially when there is hardness or impurities present, so the quality of the water cannot be compromised during washing.…”