Have you ever seen fibers that light up and generate electricity when worn? What magical functions do you expect from smart wearable devices?
On April 5th, the Advanced Functional Materials team at Donghua University's School of Materials Science and Engineering published a remarkable research achievement in the journal Science.
The study introduced an energy interaction mechanism based on "human body coupling" and successfully developed a new type of smart fiber that integrates wireless energy harvesting, information sensing, and transmission. These smart textiles, woven from such fibers, can achieve luminescent displays and touch interaction functions without relying on chips and batteries.
This breakthrough paves the way for intelligent interactions between humans and the environment, with broad application prospects.
Smart wearable devices are gradually becoming a part of our lives. Currently, the development of smart fibers is mostly based on the "von Neumann architecture," meaning that smart textiles still rely on chips and batteries. This makes the products bulky, heavy, and rigid, which cannot simultaneously meet people's needs for functionality and comfort in textiles.
The Donghua University research team innovatively proposed a "non-von Neumann architecture" for smart fibers, effectively simplifying the hardware structure of wearable devices and smart textiles, and optimizing their wearability.
The research achieved the integration of energy harvesting, information sensing, and signal transmission within a single fiber, creating smart textiles that do not depend on chips and batteries.
What's the secret behind these "plug-free" luminous and power-generating fibers? How is the electromagnetic energy scattered in the environment "transferred" to the fibers in daily life?
The study suggests using the human body as a carrier for energy interaction, opening up a convenient energy "channel." The electromagnetic energy, which would otherwise dissipate in the atmosphere, first enters the circuit composed of the fiber, the human body, and the earth. It is this "unnoticed in daily use" principle that facilitates the new energy interaction mechanism of "human body coupling."
With the addition of specific functional materials, merely through human touch, these new fibers will display a "magical scene" of lighting up and generating electricity.
"The new fiber has a three-layer sheath-core structure, using commonly available raw materials. The core layer is a fiber antenna (silver-plated nylon fiber) that senses alternating electromagnetic fields, the middle layer is a dielectric layer that enhances the coupling capacity of electromagnetic energy, and the outer layer is a light-emitting layer sensitive to electric fields. The raw materials are low-cost, and the processing of fibers and fabrics can be achieved with mature technology, already capable of mass production," said Yang Weifeng, the lead author of the paper and a doctoral student at the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Donghua University.
The study also demonstrated several applications of these smart fibers based on the principle of human-body coupling: achieving fiber touch-induced luminescence, fabric display, and wireless command transmission without the use of chips and batteries.
Hou Chengyi, a researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Fiber Material Modification at Donghua University, introduced: "This new type of fiber can be applied to daily textiles such as clothing, accessories, and fabric decorations. When in contact with the human body, it will provide visual sensing and interaction through luminescence, even high-intensity illumination, and can also generate wireless signals in response to different human postures and movements, allowing wireless remote control of smart home appliances and other electronic products. These novel functions are expected to expand the application scenarios of electronic products and even change the way people live smartly."
Professor Wang Hongzhi, the leader of the research group, stated that future research will delve into how to make these new fibers collect energy more effectively from space and use it to drive more functions, including display, deformation, computation, artificial intelligence, and more.
