Fully Printed Stretchable and Multifunctional E‐Textiles for Aesthetic Wearable Electronic Systems

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2022-04, Vol.18 (13), p.e2107298-n/a
• Main Authors: Tian, Bin, Fang, Yuhui, Liang, Jing, Zheng, Ke, Guo, Panwang, Zhang, Xinyu, Wu, Youfusheng, Liu, Qun, Huang, Zhida, Cao, Changyong, Wu, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: conductive inks; Dynamic stability; Electric Conductivity; Electronic systems; Electronics; Esthetics; Human motion; Humans; Joule heaters; Motion perception; Nanotechnology; printed e‐textiles; Screen printing; Smart materials; strain sensors; Stretchability; Textiles; Thermal management; Water resistance; Waterproofing; Wear resistance; Wearable Electronic Devices; wearable electronics; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202107298

Electronic textiles (e‐textiles) that combine the wearing comfort of textiles and the functionality of soft electronics are highly demanded in wearable applications. However, fabricating robust high‐performance stretchable e‐textiles with good abrasion resistance and high‐resolution aesthetic patterns for high‐throughput manufacturing and practical applications remains challenging. Herein, the authors report a new multifunctional e‐textile fabricated via screen printing of the water‐based silver fractal dendrites conductive ink. The as‐fabricated e‐textiles spray‐coated with the invisible waterproofing agent exhibit superior flexibility, water resistance, wearing comfort, air permeability, and abrasion resistance, achieving a low sheet resistance of 0.088 Ω sq−1, high stretchability of up to 154%, and excellent dynamic stability for over 1000 cyclic testing (ε = 100%). The printed e‐textiles can be explored as strain sensors and ultralow voltage‐driven Joule heaters driven for personalized thermal management. They finally demonstrate an integrated aesthetic smart clothing made of their multifunctional e‐textiles for human motion detection and body‐temperature management. The printed e‐textiles provide new opportunities for developing novel wearable electronics and smart clothing for future commercial applications. A new formulation of water‐based conductive ink and a facile printing process are investigated to fabricate high‐performance, stretchable, and aesthetic e‐textiles. The as‐printed e‐textiles demonstrate superior conductivity, stretchability, dynamic stability, water resistance, air permeability, and abrasion resistance, which can be potentially used for a variety of wearable applications such as human motion detection and body‐temperature management.