Metal‐Textile Laser Welding for Wearable Sensors Applications

Abstract

Electronic textile (E‐textile), an emerging technology, has the potential to revolutionize consumer electronics by transforming them into wearable devices. Highly conductive, textile conductors, suitable for commercialization, have yet not been developed. Here, a new metal‐textile laser welding method is presented for a rapid one‐step, stable, and cost‐efficient manufacturing of electrically conductive textiles. This method is a direct on‐textile approach for customized 2D nanothick metal coatings with flexible design. Different metals, like palladium, silver, or copper can be welded on functional membranes and textiles containing polymers. As shown by bonding a copper 2D pattern on a polyamide textile, the resistivity does not vary if compared to the bulk material. The generated interlocking bonding ensures strong physical adhesion between the partly molten polyamide fibers and a copper layer, resisting up to 10 000 abrasion cycles using the standardized Martindale test and up to 42 000 flexion cycles using the industrial standardized Schildknecht test. A promising application for textile integrated conductors is body monitoring sensors. The feasibility of a laser welded resistance temperature sensors on a functional membrane is demonstrated without impairing its mechanical stability. This technology presents suitable properties and variabilities for a wide range of application in E‐textiles and its commercialization.

Emerging washable textronics for imminent e-waste mitigation: strategies, reliability, and perspectives

“…50 Practically, multidimensional textile insulators can be transformed into a versatile intelligent clothing platform via the integration of electroactive materials on curved brous surfaces. To date, numerous techniques have been investigated to integrate electroactive materials with textiles, leading to the invention of wearable batteries, 51 sensors, 52,53 Joule heaters, 54 energy harvesters, 55 implants, 56 supercapacitors, 57 antennas, 58 and dry ECG electrodes. 59 The electrochemical fabrication of the pristine textile is carried out in diverse textile processing phases (e.g., spinning, winding, and readymade garments) according to the requirement of the textronics pattern and implementation (Table 1).…”

Wearable Bioelectronics for Chronic Wound Management

“…One feasible approach to measure wound temperature is using resistance‐based temperature sensors, These sensors work by adopting thermoresistive materials such as metals (e.g., gold, [ 64 ] nickel, [ 65 ] and copper [ 66 ] ) and semiconductors (e.g., graphene [ 67 ] and silicon [ 68 ] ) as key elements. For example, a laser‐guided graphene‐MXenes/PDMS temperature sensor was developed and displayed on human skin ( Figure A,B).…”

Wash Analyses of Flexible and Wearable Printed Circuits for E-Textiles and Their Prediction of Damages

“…They discussed only rigid boards attached, without protections against washing damages. Fromme et al [22] prepared the laser-welded metal textile fabric by using metal foils and thermoplastic polymers. The prepared samples were claimed to resist 42,000 flexing cycles and 10,000 abrasion cycles.…”