Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.6
5.0
Journals
Polymers
Special Issues
Advances in Smart Textile
share announcement

Advances in Smart Textile

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Fibers".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 April 2022) | Viewed by 21017

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Javad Foroughi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: wearable technology; smart textiles; electromaterials; sensors; actuators; biomedical device; smart drug delivery; energy materials; carbon nanotubes; graphene; conducting polymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smart textiles are considered as the next frontline for electronics and recent developments in advance technologies have led to the appearance of wearable electronics by fabricating, miniaturizing and embedding flexible smart materials into textiles. The combination of textiles and smart materials have led to the development of new capabilities in fabrics with the potential to change how athletes, patients, soldiers, first responders, and everyday consumers interact with their clothes and other textile products.

This Special Issue is motived by the observed growing interests on the design, fabrication and application of smart textiles in many fields. Textiles traditionally perform social and protective functions, but the addition of wearable electronics provides the means to produce a new generation of smart textiles. Over the years many features are explored toward functionality of smart textile. Energy harvesting/ storage, force/pressure measurement, porosity or color variation and sensors (movement, temperature, chemicals) are some of these functionalities.  To build smart textile on an industrial scale, method of manufacturing and material selection are two important requirements. Such affordable smart textiles could fulfil diverse applications, ranging from work wear in specific industries to the almost infinite scenarios of personal use. However, performance, scalability, and cost problems have restricted the deployment of currently-available smart textiles. The approach of new energy materials and novel fabrication methods are essential to develop smart textiles.

Considering your prominent contribution in this interesting research field, I would like to cordially invite you to submit a paper to this special issue through the webpage of the journal (S.I. Advances in Smart textiles). The manuscript should be submitted online before 30 January 2021. The submitted manuscripts will then be fast track reviewed. I would very much appreciate it if you could let me know of your interest in the paper contribution at your earliest convenience. Research articles, review articles, perspectives, as well as communications and letters are also invited.

Dr. Javad Foroughi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Smart Textiles
  • Fibers
  • Garments
  • Fabrics
  • Actuators
  • Sensors
  • Wearable Technology
  • Energy Harvesting
  • Energy Conversion
  • Energy Storage

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

20 pages, 5294 KiB  
Article
Phase Change Energy Storage Elastic Fiber: A Simple Route to Personal Thermal Management
by Weipei Li, Liqing Xu, Xiangqin Wang, Ruitian Zhu and Yurong Yan
Polymers 2022, 14(1), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14010053 - 24 Dec 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3254
Abstract
A novel thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) PCFs possessing a high loaded ratio and high elasticity was simply prepared by vacuum absorption following wet spinning, then coated by waterborne polyurethane (WPU). Octadecane (OCC), hexadecanol (HEO), and stearic acid (SA), which have different tendencies to form [...] Read more.
A novel thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) PCFs possessing a high loaded ratio and high elasticity was simply prepared by vacuum absorption following wet spinning, then coated by waterborne polyurethane (WPU). Octadecane (OCC), hexadecanol (HEO), and stearic acid (SA), which have different tendencies to form hydrogen bonds with TPU, were selected as PCMs, and their thermal behavior, thermal storge properties, and elasticity were systematically studied, respectively. The hierarchical pore structure though from the sheath to the core part of TPU filaments weakened the influence of the nonfreezing layer and hydrogen bond on the crystallization behavior of PCMs. The resulting HEO/TPU fiber has the highest enthalpy of 208.1 J/g compared with OCC and SA. Moreover, the HEO/TPU fiber has an elongation at break of 354.8% when the phase change enthalpy is as high as 177.8 J/g and the phase change enthalpy is still 174.5 J/g after fifty cycles. After ten tensile recovery cycles, the elastic recovery rate of HEO/TPU fiber was only 71.3%. When the HEO in the fiber was liquid state, the elastic recovery rate of HEO/TPU fiber promoted to 91.6%. This elastic PCFs have excellent thermal cycle stability, elastic recovery, and temperature sensitivity. It has great application potential in the fields of flexible wearable devices, intelligent fabrics, and temperature sensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Textile)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2802 KiB  
Article
Self-Cleaning Cotton Obtained after Grafting Thermoresponsive Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) through Surface-Initiated Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization
by Bhaskarchand Gautam and Hsiao-hua Yu
Polymers 2020, 12(12), 2920; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12122920 - 5 Dec 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3448
Abstract
Although the performance of smart textiles would be enhanced if they could display self-cleaning ability toward various kinds of contamination, the procedures that have been used previously to impart the self-cleaning potential to these functional fabrics (solvent casting, dip coating, spin coating, surface [...] Read more.
Although the performance of smart textiles would be enhanced if they could display self-cleaning ability toward various kinds of contamination, the procedures that have been used previously to impart the self-cleaning potential to these functional fabrics (solvent casting, dip coating, spin coating, surface crosslinking) have typically been expensive and/or limited by uncontrollable polymer thicknesses and morphologies. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of atomic transfer radical polymerization for the surface-initiated grafting of poly(N-vinylcaprolactam), a thermoresponsive polymer, onto cotton. We confirmed the thermoresponsiveness and reusability of the resulting fabric through water contact angle measurements and various surface characterization techniques (scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy). Finally, we validated the self-cleaning performance of the fabric by washing away an immobilized fluorescent protein in deionized water under thermal stimulus. Fluorescence micrographs revealed that, after the fifth wash cycle, the fabric surface had undergone efficient self-cleaning of the stain, making it an effective self-cleaning material. This approach appears to have potential for application in the fields of smart textiles, responsive substrates, and functional fabrics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Textile)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

15 pages, 3762 KiB  
Article
Nanofibers-Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for Self-Powered Wearable Technologies
by Fatemeh Mokhtari, Mahnaz Shamshirsaz, Masoud Latifi and Javad Foroughi
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112697 - 16 Nov 2020
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 5760
Abstract
The demands for wearable technologies continue to grow and novel approaches for powering these devices are being enabled by the advent of new energy materials and novel manufacturing strategies. In addition, decreasing the energy consumption of portable electronic devices has created a huge [...] Read more.
The demands for wearable technologies continue to grow and novel approaches for powering these devices are being enabled by the advent of new energy materials and novel manufacturing strategies. In addition, decreasing the energy consumption of portable electronic devices has created a huge demand for the development of cost-effective and environment friendly alternate energy sources. Energy harvesting materials including piezoelectric polymer with its special properties make this demand possible. Herein, we develop a flexible and lightweight nanogenerator package based on polyvinyledene fluoride (PVDF)/LiCl electrospun nanofibers. The piezoelectric performance of the developed nanogenator is investigated to evaluate effect of the thickness of the as-spun mat on the output voltage using a vibration and impact test. It is found that the output voltage increases from 1.3 V to 5 V by adding LiCl as additive into the spinning solution compared with pure PVDF. The prepared PVDF/LiCl nanogenerator is able to generate voltage and current output of 3 V and 0.5 μA with a power density output of 0.3 μW cm−2 at the frequency of 200 Hz. It is found also that the developed nanogenerator can be utilized as a sensor to measure temperature changes from 30 °C to 90 °C under static pressure. The developed electrospun temperature sensor showed sensitivity of 0.16%/°C under 100 Pa pressure and 0.06%/°C under 220 Pa pressure. The obtained results suggested the developed energy harvesting textiles have promising applications for various wearable self-powered electrical devices and systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Textile)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

34 pages, 19731 KiB  
Review
Bending Analysis of Polymer-Based Flexible Antennas for Wearable, General IoT Applications: A Review
by Muhammad Usman Ali Khan, Raad Raad, Faisel Tubbal, Panagiotis Ioannis Theoharis, Sining Liu and Javad Foroughi
Polymers 2021, 13(3), 357; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13030357 - 22 Jan 2021
Cited by 63 | Viewed by 7548
Abstract
Flexible substrates have become essential in order to provide increased flexibility in wearable sensors, including polymers, plastic, paper, textiles and fabrics. This study is to comprehensively summarize the bending capabilities of flexible polymer substrate for general Internet of Things (IoTs) applications. The basic [...] Read more.
Flexible substrates have become essential in order to provide increased flexibility in wearable sensors, including polymers, plastic, paper, textiles and fabrics. This study is to comprehensively summarize the bending capabilities of flexible polymer substrate for general Internet of Things (IoTs) applications. The basic premise is to investigate the flexibility and bending ability of polymer materials as well as their tendency to withstand deformation. We start by providing a chronological order of flexible materials which have been used during the last few decades. In the future, the IoT is expected to support a diverse set of technologies to enable new applications through wireless connectivity. For wearable IoTs, flexibility and bending capabilities of materials are required. This paper provides an overview of some abundantly used polymer substrates and compares their physical, electrical and mechanical properties. It also studies the bending effects on the radiation performance of antenna designs that use polymer substrates. Moreover, we explore a selection of flexible materials for flexible antennas in IoT applications, namely Polyimides (PI), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), Rogers RT/Duroid and Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP). The study includes a complete analysis of bending and folding effects on the radiation characteristics such as S-parameters, resonant frequency deviation and the impedance mismatch with feedline of the flexible polymer substrate microstrip antennas. These flexible polymer substrates are useful for future wearable devices and general IoT applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Smart Textile)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop