Donghua University

About: Donghua University is a education organization based out in Shanghai, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Fiber & Nanofiber. The organization has 21155 authors who have published 21841 publications receiving 393091 citations. The organization is also known as: Dōnghuá Dàxué & China Textile University.

Highly Wearable, Breathable, and Washable Sensing Textile for Human Motion and Pulse Monitoring.

Abstract: At present, pressure sensor textiles are of great significance in the area of wearable electronics, especially for making smart or intelligent textiles. However, the design of these textile-based devices with sensitive ability, simple fabrication, and low cost is still challenging. In this study, we developed a triboelectric sensing textile constructed with core-shell yarns. Nylon filament and polytetrafluoroethylene filament were selected as the positive and negative layers, respectively, in the woven structure while the built-in helical stainless steel yarn was serving as the inner electrode layer. The sensitivity of the sensing textile can reach up to 1.33 V·kPa-1 and 0.32 V·kPa-1 in the pressure range of 1.95-3.13 kPa and 3.20-4.61 kPa, respectively. This sensing textile presented good mechanical stability and sensing capability even after 4200 cycles of continuous operation or after 4 h continuous water washing. Benefiting from the favorable merits of being highly flexible, breathable, lightweight, and even dyeable, the fabricated device was capable of being placed on any desired body parts for quantifying the dynamic human motions. It can be effectively used to measure and monitor various human movements associated with different joints, such as the hand, elbow, knee, and underarm. Moreover, the sensing textile was able to capture real-time pulse signals and reflect the current health status for human beings. This study affords an innovative and promising track for multifunctional pressure sensor textiles with wide applications in smart textiles and personalized healthcare.

Continuous and scalable manufacture of amphibious energy yarns and textiles.

Abstract: Biomechanical energy harvesting textiles based on nanogenerators that convert mechanical energy into electricity have broad application prospects in next-generation wearable electronic devices. However, the difficult-to-weave structure, limited flexibility and stretchability, small device size and poor weatherability of conventional nanogenerator-based devices have largely hindered their real-world application. Here, we report a highly stretchable triboelectric yarn that involves unique structure design based on intrinsically elastic silicone rubber tubes and extrinsically elastic built-in stainless steel yarns. By using a modified melt-spinning method, we realize scalable-manufacture of the self-powered yarn. A hundred-meter-length triboelectric yarn is demonstrated, but not limited to this size. The triboelectric yarn shows a large working strain (200%) and promising output. Moreover, it has superior performance in liquid, therefore showing all-weather durability. We also show that the development of this energy yarn facilitates the manufacturing of large-area self-powered textiles and provide an attractive direction for the study of amphibious wearable technologies. Textiles that can convert mechanical energy into electricity are attractive for wearable electronic devices, but application is hindered by stability, flexibility, and stretchability. Here the authors report scalable fabrication for a stretchable triboelectric yarn that is operational under water.