Self-Healing E-tongue.

Self-healing materials inspire the next generation of multifunctional wearables and Internet of Things appliances. They expand the realm of thin film fabrication, enabling seamless conformational coverage irrespective of the shape complexity and surface geometry for electronic skins, smart textiles, soft robotics, and energy storage devices. Within this context, the layer-by-layer (LbL) technique is versatile for homogeneously dispersing materials onto various matrices.

Controllable Preparation of Ordered and Hierarchically Buckled Structures for Inflatable Tumor Ablation, Volumetric Strain Sensor, and Communication via Inflatable Antenna.

Inflatable conducting devices providing improved properties and functionalities are needed for diverse applications. However, the difficult part in making high-performance inflatable devices is the enabling of two-dimensional (2D) buckles with controlled structures on inflatable catheters. Here, we report the fabrication of highly inflatable devices with controllable structures by wrapping the super-aligned carbon nanotube sheet (SACNS) on the pre-inflated catheter.

Ag/MnO Composite Sheath-Core Structured Yarn Supercapacitors.

One-dimensional (1D) yarn or fiber-based supercapacitors that have small diameter, volume and high mechanical strength are needed due to the demands on power source for wearable electronics, micro-devices, and implantable medical devices. The composite sheath is fabricated on a commercially available CNT yarn substrate by alternating depositions of MnO and Ag layers. Synergistic effect of high loading level of pseudocapacitive MnO and reasonably improved rate-capability are achieved.

Biscrolled Carbon Nanotube Yarn Structured Silver-Zinc Battery.

Flexible yarn- or fiber-based energy storing devices are attractive because of their small dimension, light weight, and suitability for integration into woven or textile application. Some Li-ion based yarn or fiber batteries were developed due to their performance advantages, realizing highly performing and practically safe wearable battery still remains a challenge. Here, high performance and safe yarn-based battery is demonstrated by embedding active materials into inner structure of yarn and using water based electrolyte.

Weavable asymmetric carbon nanotube yarn supercapacitor for electronic textiles.

Asymmetric supercapacitors are receiving much research interests due to their wide operating potential window and high energy density. In this study, we report the fabrication of asymmetrically configured yarn based supercapacitor by using liquid-state biscrolling technology. High loading amounts of reduced graphene oxide anode guest (90.

Strong, Twist-Stable Carbon Nanotube Yarns and Muscles by Tension Annealing at Extreme Temperatures.

A high-speed incandescent tension annealing process (ITAP) is used to increase the modulus and strength of twist-spun carbon nanotube yarns by up to 12-fold and 2.6-fold, respectively, provide remarkable resistance to oxidation and powerful protonating acids, and freeze yarn untwist. This twist stability enables torsional artificial-muscle motors having improved performance and minimizes problematic untwist during weaving nanotube yarns.

Woven-Yarn Thermoelectric Textiles.

The fabrication and characterization of highly flexible textiles are reported. These textiles can harvest thermal energy from temperature gradients in the desirable through-thickness direction. The tiger yarns containing n- and p-type segments are woven to provide textiles containing n-p junctions.