In a groundbreaking development, researchers from Nanyang Technological University, Jilin University and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences have collaboratively developed innovative fibres with electronic capabilities, presenting a significant advancement in the realm of wearable technology.
Published in Nature, this breakthrough paves the way for programmable clothing with a wide range of applications, from assisting the visually impaired to advanced heart-monitoring devices.
During the research, the team tackled a significant challenge in wearable electronics - the integration of semiconductor devices into fibres, which was previously impending fibre performance.
The fibres demonstrate durability under compression and are waterproof, making them suitable for underwater applications as well.
????New fibres may be able to receive electronic inputs, offering the possibility of programmable clothinghttps://t.co/6qh637mcbT pic.twitter.com/13PDyyRwZS
— Australian Science Media Centre (@AusSMC) January 31, 2024
Industry ready
An advantage of this technology is its industrial readiness, notes Xiaoting Jia and Alex Parrott in an accompanying News & Views, “The instrument that fabricates the fibres includes a fibre-drawing device that is used to produce commercial optical fibres in the telecommunication industry.
“And once the fibres are generated, they can be knitted or woven into the fabric using tools that are already used widely in the textile industry.”
They conclude that this work “takes a leap towards embedding micro-computers into everyday clothing”.
Innovative capabilities
To demonstrate the capabilities of these materials, the authors make a range of experimental devices.
For example, they knit the fibres into a hat that can sense light signals from traffic lights, which could provide assistance to visually impaired individuals.
The light signals detected by the hat are transmitted to a cell phone that alerts the user when the lights change from red to green.
The authors also weave the fibres into a wristband to make a wearable heart monitor with similar performance to commercially available devices, but with the advantage of fitting more closely to the wrist than rigid sensors.