Textiles have been concomitant of human civilization for thousands of years. With the advances in chemistry and materials, integrating textiles with energy harvesters will provide a sustainable, environmentally friendly, pervasive, and wearable energy solution for distributed on-body electronics in the era of Internet of Things. This article comprehensively and thoughtfully reviews research activities regarding the utilization of smart textiles for harvesting energy from renewable energy sources on the human body and its surroundings. Specifically, we start with a brief introduction to contextualize the significance of smart textiles in light of the emerging energy crisis, environmental pollution, and public health. Next, we systematically review smart textiles according to their abilities to harvest biomechanical energy, body heat energy, biochemical energy, solar energy as well as hybrid forms of energy. Finally, we provide a critical analysis of smart textiles and insights into remaining challenges and future directions. With worldwide efforts, innovations in chemistry and materials elaborated in this review will push forward the frontiers of smart textiles, which will soon revolutionize our lives in the era of Internet of Things.

Smart Textiles for Electricity Generation.

Multifunctional and Water-Resistant MXene-Decorated Polyester Textiles with Outstanding Electromagnetic Interference Shielding and Joule Heating Performances

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth, found in trees, waste from agricultural crops and other biomass The fibres that comprise cellulose can be broken down into building blocks, known as fibrillated cellulose, of varying, controllable dimensions that extend to the nanoscale Fibrillated cellulose is harvested from renewable resources, so its sustainability potential combined with its other functional properties (mechanical, optical, thermal and fluidic, for example) gives this nanomaterial unique technological appeal Here we explore the use of fibrillated cellulose in the fabrication of materials ranging from composites and macrofibres, to thin films, porous membranes and gels We discuss research directions for the practical exploitation of these structures and the remaining challenges to overcome before fibrillated cellulose materials can reach their full potential Finally, we highlight some key issues towards successful manufacturing scale-up of this family of materials

Developing fibrillated cellulose as a sustainable technological material.

In the past few years, soft robotics has rapidly become an emerging research topic, opening new possibilities for addressing real-world tasks Perception can enable robots to effectively explore the unknown world, and interact safely with humans and the environment Among all extero- and proprioception modalities, the detection of mechanical cues is vital, as with living beings A variety of soft sensing technologies are available today, but there is still a gap to effectively utilize them in soft robots for practical applications Here, the developments in soft robots with mechanical sensing are summarized to provide a comprehensive understanding of the state of the art in this field Promising sensing technologies for mechanically perceptive soft robots are described, categorized, and their pros and cons are discussed Strategies for designing soft sensors and criteria to evaluate their performance are outlined from the perspective of soft robotic applications Challenges and trends in developing multimodal sensors, stretchable conductive materials and electronic interfaces, modeling techniques, and data interpretation for soft robotic sensing are highlighted The knowledge gap and promising solutions toward perceptive soft robots are discussed and analyzed to provide a perspective in this field

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/advs.201800541

Toward Perceptive Soft Robots: Progress and Challenges

Flexible and Multifunctional Silk Textiles with Biomimetic Leaf-Like MXene/Silver Nanowire Nanostructures for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding, Humidity Monitoring, and Self-Derived Hydrophobicity

Graphene is the first 2D crystal ever isolated by mankind. It consists of a single graphite layer, and its exceptional properties are revolutionizing material science. However, there is still a lack of convenient mass-production methods to obtain defect-free monolayer graphene. In contrast, graphene nanoplatelets, hybrids between graphene and graphite, are already industrially available. Such nanomaterials are attractive, considering their planar structure, light weight, high aspect ratio, electrical conductivity, low cost, and mechanical toughness. These diverse features enable applications ranging from energy harvesting and electronic skin to reinforced plastic materials. This review presents progress in composite materials with graphene nanoplatelets applied, among others, in the field of flexible electronics and motion and structural sensing. Particular emphasis is given to applications such as antennas, flexible electrodes for energy devices, and strain sensors. A separate discussion is included on advanced biodegradable materials reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets. A discussion of the necessary steps for the further spread of graphene nanoplatelets is provided for each revised field.

/pdf/graphene-nanoplatelets-based-advanced-materials-and-recent-1zg4n03xjv.pdf

Graphene Nanoplatelets-Based Advanced Materials and Recent Progress in Sustainable Applications

Stretchable capacitive devices are instrumental for new-generation multifunctional haptic technologies particularly suited for soft robotics and electronic skin applications. A majority of elongating soft electronics still rely on silicone for building devices or sensors by multiple-step replication. In this study, fabrication of a reliable elongating parallel-plate capacitive touch sensor, using nitrile rubber gloves as templates, is demonstrated. Spray coating both sides of a rubber piece cut out of a glove with a conductive polymer suspension carrying dispersed carbon nanofibers (CnFs) or graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) is sufficient for making electrodes with low sheet resistance values (≈10 Ω sq-1). The electrodes based on CnFs maintain their conductivity up to 100% elongation whereas the GnPs-based ones form cracks before 60% elongation. However, both electrodes are reliable under elongation levels associated with human joints motility (≈20%). Strikingly, structural damages due to repeated elongation/recovery cycles could be healed through annealing. Haptic sensing characteristics of a stretchable capacitive device by wrapping it around the fingertip of a robotic hand (ICub) are demonstrated. Tactile forces as low as 0.03 N and as high as 5 N can be easily sensed by the device under elongation or over curvilinear surfaces.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/advs.201700587

Carbon Nanofiber versus Graphene-Based Stretchable Capacitive Touch Sensors for Artificial Electronic Skin.

Electrically conductive materials based on cotton have important implications for wearable electronics. We have developed flexible and conductive cotton fabrics (∼10 Ω/sq) by impregnation with graphene and thermoplastic polyurethane-based dispersions. Nanocomposite fabrics display remarkable resilience against weight-pressed severe folding as well as laundry cycles. Folding induced microcracks can be healed easily by hot-pressing, restoring initial electrical conductivity. Impregnated cotton fabric conductors demonstrate better mechanical properties compared to pure cotton and thermoplastic polyurethane maintaining breathability. They also resist environmental aging such as solar irradiation and high humidity.

Healable Cotton–Graphene Nanocomposite Conductor for Wearable Electronics

Interactive clothing requires sensing and display functionalities to be embedded on textiles Despite the significant progress of electronic textiles, the integration of optoelectronic materials on fabrics remains as an outstanding challenge In this Letter, using the electro-optical tunability of graphene, we report adaptive optical textiles with electrically controlled reflectivity and emissivity covering the infrared and near-infrared wavelengths We achieve electro-optical modulation by reversible intercalation of ions into graphene layers laminated on fabrics We demonstrate a new class of infrared textile devices including display, yarn, and stretchable devices using natural and synthetic textiles To show the promise of our approach, we fabricated an active device directly onto a t-shirt, which enables long-wavelength infrared communication via modulation of the thermal radiation from the human body The results presented here provide complementary technologies which could leverage the ubiquitous use of functional textiles

/pdf/graphene-enabled-adaptive-infrared-textiles-3mjytttwrk.pdf

Graphene-Enabled Adaptive Infrared Textiles

/pdf/green-biocomposites-for-thermoelectric-wearable-applications-428iu3tumb.pdf

Pietro Cataldi

Papers

Graphene Nanoplatelets-Based Advanced Materials and Recent Progress in Sustainable Applications

Carbon Nanofiber versus Graphene-Based Stretchable Capacitive Touch Sensors for Artificial Electronic Skin.

Healable Cotton–Graphene Nanocomposite Conductor for Wearable Electronics

Graphene-Enabled Adaptive Infrared Textiles

Green Biocomposites for Thermoelectric Wearable Applications