[신간의 별자리x] 우리/미술, 그리고 ‘슬픔의 박물관’

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.

Signed languages are not as pervasive a conversational medium as spoken languages due to the history of institutional suppression of the former and the linguistic hegemony of the latter This has led to a communication barrier between signers and non-signers that could be mitigated by technology-mediated approaches Here, we show that a wearable sign-to-speech translation system, assisted by machine learning, can accurately translate the hand gestures of American Sign Language into speech The wearable sign-to-speech translation system is composed of yarn-based stretchable sensor arrays and a wireless printed circuit board, and offers a high sensitivity and fast response time, allowing real-time translation of signs into spoken words to be performed By analysing 660 acquired sign language hand gesture recognition patterns, we demonstrate a recognition rate of up to 9863% and a recognition time of less than 1 s Wearable yarn-based stretchable sensor arrays, combined with machine learning, can be used to translate American Sign Language into speech in real time

Sign-to-speech translation using machine-learning-assisted stretchable sensor arrays

Displays are basic building blocks of modern electronics1,2. Integrating displays into textiles offers exciting opportunities for smart electronic textiles—the ultimate goal of wearable technology, poised to change the way in which we interact with electronic devices3–6. Display textiles serve to bridge human–machine interactions7–9, offering, for instance, a real-time communication tool for individuals with voice or speech difficulties. Electronic textiles capable of communicating10, sensing11,12 and supplying electricity13,14 have been reported previously. However, textiles with functional, large-area displays have not yet been achieved, because it is challenging to obtain small illuminating units that are both durable and easy to assemble over a wide area. Here we report a 6-metre-long, 25-centimetre-wide display textile containing 5 × 105 electroluminescent units spaced approximately 800 micrometres apart. Weaving conductive weft and luminescent warp fibres forms micrometre-scale electroluminescent units at the weft–warp contact points. The brightness between electroluminescent units deviates by less than 8 per cent and remains stable even when the textile is bent, stretched or pressed. Our display textile is flexible and breathable and withstands repeated machine-washing, making it suitable for practical applications. We show that an integrated textile system consisting of display, keyboard and power supply can serve as a communication tool, demonstrating the system’s potential within the ‘internet of things’ in various areas, including healthcare. Our approach unifies the fabrication and function of electronic devices with textiles, and we expect that woven-fibre materials will shape the next generation of electronics. A large electronic display textile that is flexible, breathable and withstands repeated machine-washing is integrated with a keyboard and power supply to create a wearable, durable communication tool.

/pdf/large-area-display-textiles-integrated-with-functional-1wi8n3en91.pdf

Large-area display textiles integrated with functional systems

Wireless wearable sweat biosensors have gained huge traction due to their potential for noninvasive health monitoring. As high energy consumption is a crucial challenge in this field, efficient energy harvesting from human motion represents an attractive approach to sustainably power future wearables. Despite intensive research activities, most wearable energy harvesters suffer from complex fabrication procedures, poor robustness, and low power density, making them unsuitable for continuous biosensing. Here, we propose a highly robust, mass-producible, and battery-free wearable platform that efficiently extracts power from body motion through a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB)-based freestanding triboelectric nanogenerator (FTENG). The judiciously engineered FTENG displays a high power output of ~416 mW m-2 Through seamless system integration and efficient power management, we demonstrate a battery-free triboelectrically driven system that is able to power multiplexed sweat biosensors and wirelessly transmit data to the user interfaces through Bluetooth during on-body human trials.

Wireless battery-free wearable sweat sensor powered by human motion

Summary Smart textiles for electricity generation are a superior energy solution with greatly improved convenience and comfort for wearable bioelectronics. However, maintaining the sustainability and stability of the power supply, though highly desirable, remains a great challenge. Here, we present a photo-rechargeable fabric with economically viable materials and scalable fabrication technologies. The fabric was able to constantly deliver electric power for 10 min at 0.1 mA after being charged for 1 min under the standard 1-sun condition. It can also work normally under twisted and watery circumstances and hold the stored energy for over 60 days without significant voltage loss. The photo-rechargeable fabric was demonstrated to power a body area sensor network for personalized healthcare.

Yongzhong Li

Papers

Smart Textiles for Electricity Generation.

Photo-Rechargeable Fabrics as Sustainable and Robust Power Sources for Wearable Bioelectronics

A linear-to-rotary hybrid nanogenerator for high-performance wearable biomechanical energy harvesting