While the printed circuit board (PCB) has been widely considered as the building block of integrated electronics, the world is switching to pursue new ways of merging integrated electronic circuits with textiles to create flexible and wearable devices. Herein, as an alternative for PCB, we described a non-printed integrated-circuit textile (NIT) for biomedical and theranostic application via a weaving method. All the devices are built as fibers or interlaced nodes and woven into a deformable textile integrated circuit. Built on an electrochemical gating principle, the fiber-woven-type transistors exhibit superior bending or stretching robustness, and were woven as a textile logical computing module to distinguish different emergencies. A fiber-type sweat sensor was woven with strain and light sensors fibers for simultaneously monitoring body health and the environment. With a photo-rechargeable energy textile based on a detailed power consumption analysis, the woven circuit textile is completely self-powered and capable of both wireless biomedical monitoring and early warning. The NIT could be used as a 24/7 private AI “nurse” for routine healthcare, diabetes monitoring, or emergencies such as hypoglycemia, metabolic alkalosis, and even COVID-19 patient care, a potential future on-body AI hardware and possibly a forerunner to fabric-like computers.

BiographiesXiaofei Wei is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Chongqing University. Her research interests include fiber-shaped sensors, transistors, and textile-type integrated circuits.

With the rapid advancements in flexible wearable electronics, there is increasing interest in integrated electronic fabric innovations in both academia and industry. However, currently developed plastic board-based batteries remain too rigid and bulky to comfortably accommodate soft wearing surfaces. The integration of fabrics with energy-storage devices offers a sustainable, eco-friendly, and pervasive energy solution for wearable distributed electronics. Fabric-type flexible energy-storage devices are particularly advantageous as they conform well to the curved body surface and the various movements associated with wearing habits such as running. This review presents a comprehensive overview of the advances in flexible fabric-type energy-storage devices for wearable electronics, including their significance, construction methods, structure design, hybrid forms with other energy sources, and the existing challenges and future directions. With worldwide efforts on materials and technologies, we hope that progress in this review will revolutionize our way of life.