Woven Wearable Electronic Textiles as Self‐Powered Intelligent Tribo‐Sensors for Activity Monitoring

Abstract

Wearable and shape‐adaptive electronic textiles (E‐textiles) for human activities detection such as diversity joints motion are highly desired. However, conventional E‐textiles still remain great challenges, such as flexibility, air permeability, and large‐area fabrication. Here, a fabric E‐textile is developed as a self‐powered textile for tracking active motion signals. The fiber‐shaped coaxial tribo‐sensor is fabricated with silver yarn (Ag) and polytetrafluoroethylene yarn, which allows for integrating well with cloths at large scales due to its satisfactory breathability, good washability, and desirable flexibility. Based on the coaxial‐structured design, the fabricated E‐textile is optimized to generate the output performance with maximum short‐current (Isc) of 90 nA and open‐voltage (Voc) of 8 V. Moreover, the E‐textile can also be utilized as a self‐powered activity tribo‐sensor to monitor the motion signals of the human body. More significantly, the obtained E‐textile performs outstanding finger‐touching sensitivity, which can be applied in a wireless controller, active sensor, and human–machine interactions. This work presents a new way for a multifunctional E‐textile with potential applications in smart home systems, wearable electronics, and personalized healthcare.

E-Textile Technology Review–From Materials to Application

“…E-textiles have been prototyped and commercialized as physiological sensors and actuators [42], activity sensors [43], environmental sensors, and visual indicator systems. These are discussed as follows:…”

Textile-Based Mechanical Sensors: A Review

“…The sensor exhibits good linearity and tensile properties and can be blended into wearable fabrics to monitor athletes and patients without compromising lifestyle or comfort. [50]; (e) double-layer piezoelectric sensors with vertical arrangement, reproduced with permission from [51]; (f) coaxial fiber triboelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from [52]; and (g) doublelayer triboelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from ref. [53].…”

“…In addition, such TMSs often present the advantages of fast response time and high sensitivity [56], giving them great prospects in wearable devices. Tan et al [50] prepared piezoelectric TMSs using the piezoelectric effect of the single-crystalline ZnO nanorods grown on conductive [47]; (b) crossed fiber capacitive sensors, reproduced with permission from [48]; (c) helix fiber capacitive sensors, reproduced with permission from [49]; (d) sandwich structure piezoelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from [50]; (e) double-layer piezoelectric sensors with vertical arrangement, reproduced with permission from [51]; (f) coaxial fiber triboelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from [52]; and (g) double-layer triboelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from ref. [53].…”

“…One kind is a single yarn device with two frictional electrical sequences that are woven into fabrics or textiles. Zhang et al [52] prepared a coaxial triboelectric yarn by sequentially wrapping PTFE and Ag yarns around axial metallized silver yarn via a winding machine (Figure 2f). The fabricated triboelectric yarn was then woven into wearable, multifunctional textile by needles to harvest the mechanical energy from human body motions.…”

“…PDMS means polydimethylsiloxane, PI means polyimide, rGO means reduced graphene oxide and PVDF means polyvinylidene fluoride. (a) sandwich structure fabric capacitive sensors, reproduced with permission from[47]; (b) crossed fiber capacitive sensors, reproduced with permission from[48]; (c) helix fiber capacitive sensors, reproduced with permission from[49]; (d) sandwich structure piezoelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from[50]; (e) double-layer piezoelectric sensors with vertical arrangement, reproduced with permission from[51]; (f) coaxial fiber triboelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from[52]; and (g) double-layer triboelectric sensors, reproduced with permission from ref [53]…”