We are surrounded by fabrics, the carpet floors in our homes or offices, the seats in our cars, and obviously all our garments and clothing accessories. There are already examples of smart textiles in garments for monitoring physiological and biomechanical signals. However, the manufacturing schemes for current applications rely mostly on the integration of off-the-shelf electronic components mounted on a textile substrate. Such components are silicon-based, thus unsuitable for applications where flexibility and fault-tolerance are required.
The incorporation of current technological items, such as communication or tracking devices on fabrics would certainly be a game-changer in modern technology. This innovative project aims at building electronic devices directly on textile fibres which can be woven into fabrics. Two types of key electronic devices will be targeted, field-effect transistors and loudspeakers. The approach described herein relies in using unconventional materials in electronics: organic and molecular materials, particularly graphene and its derivatives. These materials overcome many limitations of current technology, namely allowing flexibility, elasticity and transparency.
This breakthrough will allow the development of completely new approaches for integrated electronics, capable to be embedded into our everyday clothing. Since textiles are so present in society, these devices would transform our clothing into mobile phones, displays with electronic newspapers or GPS-activated maps. Establishing the foundations for this future in wearable electronics is also essential for other societal needs, such as biomedical monitoring, communication tools for sensory impaired people and personal security.