Elastic Fibers/Fabrics for Wearables and Bioelectronics

Abstract

Wearables and bioelectronics rely on breathable interface devices with bioaffinity, biocompatibility, and smart functionality for interactions between beings and things and the surrounding environment. Elastic fibers/fabrics with mechanical adaptivity to various deformations and complex substrates, are promising to act as fillers, carriers, substrates, dressings, and scaffolds in the construction of biointerfaces for the human body, skins, organs, and plants, realizing functions such as energy exchange, sensing, perception, augmented virtuality, health monitoring, disease diagnosis, and intervention therapy. This review summarizes and highlights the latest breakthroughs of elastic fibers/fabrics for wearables and bioelectronics, aiming to offer insights into elasticity mechanisms, production methods, and electrical components integration strategies with fibers/fabrics, presenting a profile of elastic fibers/fabrics for energy management, sensors, e‐skins, thermal management, personal protection, wound healing, biosensing, and drug delivery. The trans‐disciplinary application of elastic fibers/fabrics from wearables to biomedicine provides important inspiration for technology transplantation and function integration to adapt different application systems. As a discussion platform, here the main challenges and possible solutions in the field are proposed, hopefully can provide guidance for promoting the development of elastic e‐textiles in consideration of the trade‐off between mechanical/electrical performance, industrial‐scale production, diverse environmental adaptivity, and multiscenario on‐spot applications.

Study on Hierarchically Buckled Surface Regulation for Stretchable Porous Microarchitectures Fibers

“…Traditional fibers or fabrics are stretchable and bendable, and they can conform to the human body properly to accomplish comfort [1] . A great deal of study has been conducted on the functionalization of stretchable fiber surfaces as a result of the evolution of wearable multifunctional technology [2][3][4] .…”

Biointerface Fiber Technology from Electrospinning to Inflight Printing

“…From extracellular matrices (ECMs) in the connective tissues to silks spun by spiders and textile fibers weaved in fabrics, small diameter fibers widely exist in nature and have been closely associated with our daily life. − These individual fibers have quasi-one-dimensional structures, with diameters smaller than ∼100 μm and length-to-width aspect ratios greater than ∼100, so that they could possess low bending stiffness and superior flexibility. Fiber-based and fibrous structures usually have favorable permeability and remodel-ability, making them well-suited for direct interfacing with biological systems. − Therefore, numerous efforts have been devoted to creating fiber-based devices with functional materials, opening diverse applications from in vitro scaffolds to study cell and tissue mechanics , to cell interfacing bioelectronics and on-skin and wearable sensors. − …”

Highly Sensitive Capacitive Fiber Pressure Sensors Enabled by Electrode and Dielectric Layer Regulation

“…7−9 Fiber is the smallest component of textiles, and the development of one-dimensional (1D) electronic materials can give electronic skin more freedom. 10,11 In addition, fiber electronics are also the cornerstone of two-dimensional (2D) textile electronic devices and three-dimensional (3D) smart clothing. 12,13 Therefore, the functional development of electronic skin at the 1D fiber level is a necessary research trend.…”

“…Soft pressure sensors, as an important part of flexible electronics, are in increasing demand in the fields of artificial intelligence, , human–machine interface, , and health monitoring. , As an indispensable item in daily life, textile is the ideal choice for electronic skin. − Fiber is the smallest component of textiles, and the development of one-dimensional (1D) electronic materials can give electronic skin more freedom. , In addition, fiber electronics are also the cornerstone of two-dimensional (2D) textile electronic devices and three-dimensional (3D) smart clothing. , Therefore, the functional development of electronic skin at the 1D fiber level is a necessary research trend.…”