Scalable Production of Functional Fibers with Nanoscale Features for Smart Textiles.

Functional fibers, retaining nanoscale characteristics or nanomaterial properties, represent a significant advance in nanotechnology. Notably, the combination of scalable manufacturing with cutting-edge nanotechnology further expands their utility across numerous disciplines. Manufacturing kilometer-scale functional fibers with nanoscale properties are critical to the evolution of smart textiles, wearable electronics, and beyond.

Self-Adhesive, Stretchable, and Thermosensitive Iontronic Hydrogels for Highly Sensitive Neuromorphic Sensing-Synaptic Systems.

Artificial sensory afferent nerves that emulate receptor nanochannel perception and synaptic ionic information processing in chemical environments are highly desirable for bioelectronics. However, challenges persist in achieving life-like nanoscale conformal contact, agile multimodal sensing response, and synaptic feedback with ions. Here, a precisely tuned phase transition poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel is introduced through the water molecule reservoir strategy.

Bioinspired iontronic synapse fibers for ultralow-power multiplexing neuromorphic sensorimotor textiles.

Artificial neuromorphic devices can emulate dendric integration, axonal parallel transmission, along with superior energy efficiency in facilitating efficient information processing, offering enormous potential for wearable electronics. However, integrating such circuits into textiles to achieve biomimetic information perception, processing, and control motion feedback remains a formidable challenge. Here, we engineer a quasi-solid-state iontronic synapse fiber (ISF) comprising photoresponsive TiO, ion storage Co-MoS, and an ion transport layer.

A synchronous-twisting method to realize radial scalability in fibrous energy storage devices.

For wearable electronics, radial scalability is one of the key research areas for fibrous energy storage devices to be commercialized, but this field has been shelved for years due to the lack of effective methods and configuration arrangements. Here, the team presents a generalizable strategy to realize radial scalability by applying a synchronous-twisting method (STM) for synthesizing a coaxial-extensible configuration (CEC). As examples, aqueous fiber-shaped Zn-MnO batteries and MoS-MnO supercapacitors with a diameter of ~500 μm and a length of 100 cm were made.

Highly Conductive and Stable Composite Polymer Electrolyte with Boron Nitride Nanotubes for All-Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries.

All-solid-state lithium metal batteries (ASSLMBs) have emerged as the most promising next-generation energy storage devices. However, the unsatisfactory ionic conductivity of solid electrolytes at room temperature has impeded the advancement of solid-state batteries. In this work, a multifunctional composite solid electrolyte (CSE) is developed by incorporating boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) into polyvinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP).

Stretchable and Self-Powered Mechanoluminescent Triboelectric Nanogenerator Fibers toward Wearable Amphibious Electro-Optical Sensor Textiles.

Flexible electro-optical dual-mode sensor fibers with capability of the perceiving and converting mechanical stimuli into digital-visual signals show good prospects in smart human-machine interaction interfaces. However, heavy mass, low stretchability, and lack of non-contact sensing function seriously impede their practical application in wearable electronics. To address these challenges, a stretchable and self-powered mechanoluminescent triboelectric nanogenerator fiber (MLTENGF) based on lightweight carbon nanotube fiber is successfully constructed.

In Situ Polymer Gel Electrolyte in Boosting Scalable Fibre Lithium Battery Applications.

The poor interfacial stability not only deteriorates fibre lithium-ion batteries (FLBs) performance but also impacts their scalable applications. To efficiently address these challenges, Prof. Huisheng Peng team proposed a generalized channel structures strategy with optimized in situ polymerization technology in their recent study.

In Situ Self-Reconfiguration Induced Multifunctional Triple-Gradient Artificial Interfacial Layer toward Long-Life Zn-Metal Anodes.

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries featuring with intrinsic safety and low cost are highly desirable for large-scale energy storage, but the unstable Zn-metal anode resulting from uncontrollable dendrite growth and grievous hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) shortens their cycle life. Herein, a feasible in situ self-reconfiguration strategy is developed to generate triple-gradient poly(diallyldimethylammonium) bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PDDA-TFSI)-Zn(OH)Cl·HO-Sn (PT-ZHC-Sn) artificial layer. The resulting triple-gradient interface consists of the spherical top layer PT with cation confinement and HO inhibition, the dense intermediate layer ZHC nanosheet with Zn conduction and electron shielding, and the bottom layer Znophilic Sn metal.

Self-Healable Multifunctional Fibers via Thermal Drawing.

The development of soft electronics and soft fiber devices has significantly advanced flexible and wearable technology. However, they still face the risk of damage when exposed to sharp objects in real-life applications. Taking inspiration from nature, self-healable materials that can restore their physical properties after external damage offer a solution to this problem.

High-Fluidity/High-Strength Dual-Layer Gel Electrolytes Enable Ultra-Flexible and Dendrite-Free Fiber-Shaped Aqueous Zinc Metal Battery.

Fiber-shaped aqueous zinc-ion batteries (FAZIBs) with intrinsic safety, highcapacity, and superb omnidirectional flexibility hold promise for wearable energy-supply devices. However, the interfacial separation of fiber-shaped electrodes and electrolytes caused by Zinc (Zn) stripping process and severe Zn dendrites occurring at the folded area under bending condition seriously restricts FAZIBs' practical application. Here, an advanced confinement encapsulation strategy is originally reported to construct dual-layer gel electrolyte consisting of high-fluidity polyvinyl alcohol-Zn acetate inner layer and high-strength Zn alginate outer layer for fiber-shaped Zn anode.

High-quality semiconductor fibres via mechanical design.

Recent breakthroughs in fibre technology have enabled the assembly of functional materials with intimate interfaces into a single fibre with specific geometries, delivering diverse functionalities over a large area, for example, serving as sensors, actuators, energy harvesting and storage, display, and healthcare apparatus. As semiconductors are the critical component that governs device performance, the selection, control and engineering of semiconductors inside fibres are the key pathways to enabling high-performance functional fibres. However, owing to stress development and capillary instability in the high-yield fibre thermal drawing, both cracks and deformations in the semiconductor cores considerably affect the performance of these fibres.

Etching of Multifunctional Three-Dimensional Interfacial Layers for the Construction of Porous Zn Anodes with Enhanced Surface Textures.

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries offer the advantages of greater security and lower fabrication costs over their lithium-ion counterparts. However, their further advancement and practical application are hindered by the drastic decay in their performance due to the uncontrollable dendrite growth on Zn anodes. In this study, we fabricated a versatile three-dimensional (3D) interfacial layer (3D PVDF-Zn(TFO) (PVDF: poly(vinylidene fluoride); TFO: trifluoromethanesulfonate), which simultaneously formed porous Zn-metal anodes (PZn) with an enhanced (002) texture, via a etching scheme.

Intuition-and-Tactile Bimodal Sensing Based on Artificial-Intelligence-Motivated All-Fabric Bionic Electronic Skin for Intelligent Material Perception.

Developing electronic skins (e-skins) with extraordinary perception through bionic strategies has far-reaching significance for the intellectualization of robot skins. Here, an artificial intelligence (AI)-motivated all-fabric bionic (AFB) e-skin is proposed, where the overall structure is inspired by the interlocked bionics of the epidermis-dermis interface inside the skin, while the structural design inspiration of the dielectric layer derives from the branch-needle structure of conifers. More importantly, AFB e-skin achieves intuition sensing in proximity mode and tactile sensing in pressure mode based on the fringing and iontronic effects, respectively, and is simulated and verified through COMSOL finite element analysis.

High-Sensitivity Self-Powered Photodetector Fibers Using Hierarchical Heterojunction Photoelectrodes Enable Wearable Amphibious Optoelectronic Textiles.

Fiber-shaped photodetectors (FPDs) with multidirectional light absorption properties offer exciting opportunities for intelligent optoelectronic textiles. However, achieving FPDs capable of working in ampule environments, especially with high sensitivity, remains a fundamental challenge. Here, quasi-solid-state twisted-fiber photoelectrochemical photodetectors (FPPDs) consisting of photoanode, gel electrolyte, and counter electrode are successfully assembled.

Integrating High-Sensitivity Photodetector and High-Energy Aqueous Battery in All-in-One Triple-Twisted Fiber.

Fiber-shaped photodetectors (FPDs) have attracted special attention to wearable health monitoring due to their 3D absorption capabilities. However, the practical application of traditional FPDs is severely limited by the irreversible degradation of performance caused by vulnerable interface compatibility on complex deformation and a single function. Here, an integrated photoelectrochemical FPD/battery device (FPDB) is designed, consisting of a common electrode, photoanode, anode, and sol-gel electrolyte as an isolation layer, which not only effectively avoids the short circuit problem of FPD but also endows high-efficiency energy storage capacity.

Fluorescent Fiber-Shaped Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries for Bifunctional Multicolor-Emission/Energy-Storage Textiles.

Wearable smart textiles are natural carriers to enable imperceptible and highly permeable sensing and response to environmental conditions via the system integration of multiple functional fibers. However, the existing massive interfaces between different functional fibers significantly increase the complexity and reduce the wearability of the textile system. Thus, it is significant yet challenging to achieve all-in-one multifunctional fibers for realizing miniaturized and lightweight smart textiles with high reliability.

Emerging Amorphous to Crystalline Conversion Chemistry in Ca-Doped VO Cathodes for High-Capacity and Long-Term Wearable Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Amorphous transition metal oxides have attracted significant attention in energy storage devices owing to their potentially desirable electrochemical properties caused by abundant unsaturated dangling bonds. However, the amorphization further amplifies the shortcoming of the poor intrinsic electronic conductivity of the metal oxides, resulting in unsatisfying rate capability and power density. Herein, freestanding amorphous Ca-doped V O (a-Ca-V O ) cathodes are successfully prepared via in situ electrochemical oxidation of Ca-doped VO nanoarrays for wearable aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Free-standing conductive nickel metal-organic framework nanowires as bifunctional electrodes for wearable pressure sensors and Ni-Zn batteries.

Free-standing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with controllable structure and good stability are emerging as promising materials for applications in flexible pressure sensors and energy-storage devices. However, the inherent low electrical conductivity of MOF-based materials requires complex preparation processes that involve high-temperature carbonization. This work presents a simple method to grow conductive nickel MOF nanowire arrays on carbon cloth (Ni-CAT@CC) and use Ni-CAT@CC as the functional electrodes for flexible piezoresistive sensor.

Fiber Crossbars: An Emerging Architecture of Smart Electronic Textiles.

Smart wearables have a significant impact on people's daily lives, enabling personalized motion monitoring, realizing the Internet of Things, and even reshaping the next generation of telemedicine systems. Fiber crossbars (FCs), constructed by crossing two fibers, have become an emerging architecture among the accessible structures of state-of-the-art smart electronic textiles. The mechanical, chemical, and electrical interactions between crossing fibers result in extensive functionalities, leading to the significant development of innovative electronic textiles employing FCs as their basic units.

crafting of a 3D N-doped carbon/defect-rich VO·HO nanosheet composite for high performance fibrous flexible Zn-ion batteries.

Aqueous fibrous batteries with tiny volume, light weight and stretchability have furthered wearable smart textile systems like biocompatible electronics for a more efficient use of electricity. Challenges still faced by fibrous batteries include not only the deficient actual capacity but the cyclability on the cathode side. Herein, an anodic oxidation strategy is reported to prepare 3D N-doped/defect-rich VO·HO nanosheets (DVOH@NC) as fibrous cathodes for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs).

Vanadium Dioxide Nanosheets Supported on Carbonized Cotton Fabric as Bifunctional Textiles for Flexible Pressure Sensors and Zinc-Ion Batteries.

Flexible pressure sensors and aqueous batteries have been widely used in the rapid development of wearable electronics. The synergistic functionalities of versatile materials with multidimensional architectures are recognized to have a significant impact on the performance of flexible electronics. Herein, a facile hydrothermal strategy was demonstrated to conformally grow vanadium dioxide nanosheets on carbonized cotton fabrics (VO/CCotton), which is a candidate material used in flexible piezoresistive sensors.

Arrayed Heterostructures of MoS Nanosheets Anchored TiN Nanowires as Efficient Pseudocapacitive Anodes for Fiber-Shaped Ammonium-Ion Asymmetric Supercapacitors.

Nonmetallic ammonium ions that feature high safety, low molar mass, and small hydrated radius properties have shown great advantages in wearable aqueous supercapacitors. The construction of high-energy-density flexible ammonium-ion asymmetric supercapacitors (AASCs) is promising but still challenging due to the lack of high-capacitance pseudocapacitive anodes. Herein, freestanding core-shell heterostructures supported on carbon nanotube fibers were designed by anchoring MoS nanosheets on nanowires (MoS@TiN/CNTF) as anodes for AASCs.