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E- textiles control home appliances with the swipe of a finger

Date:
June 13, 2018
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
Electronic textiles could allow a person to control household appliances or computers from a distance simply by touching a wristband or other item of clothing -- something that could be particularly helpful for those with limited mobility. Now researchers, have developed a new type of e-textile that is self-powered, highly sensitive and washable. A video of an e-wristband in action is available.
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Electronic textiles could allow a person to control household appliances or computers from a distance simply by touching a wristband or other item of clothing -- something that could be particularly helpful for those with limited mobility. Now researchers, reporting in ACS Nano, have developed a new type of e-textile that is self-powered, highly sensitive and washable.

E-textiles are not new, but most existing versions have poor air permeability, can't be laundered or are too costly or complex to mass-produce. Jiaona Wang, Hengyu Guo, Congju Li and coworkers wanted to develop an E-textile that overcomes all of these limitations and is highly sensitive to human touch.

The researchers made a self-powered triboelectric nanogenerator by depositing an electrode array of conductive carbon nanotubes on nylon fabric. To make the E-textile washable, they incorporated polyurethane into the carbon nanotube ink, which made the nanotubes firmly adhere to the fabric. They covered the array with a piece of silk and fashioned the textile into a wristband. When swiped with a finger in different patterns, the E-textile generated electrical signals that were coupled to computers to control programs, or to household objects to turn on lights, a fan or a microwave from across the room. The E-textile is breathable for human skin, washable and inexpensive to produce on a large scale, the researchers say.


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Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Ran Cao, Xianjie Pu, Xinyu Du, Wei Yang, Jiaona Wang, Hengyu Guo, Shuyu Zhao, Zuqing Yuan, Chi Zhang, Congju Li, Zhong Lin Wang. Screen-Printed Washable Electronic Textiles as Self-Powered Touch/Gesture Tribo-Sensors for Intelligent Human–Machine Interaction. ACS Nano, 2018; DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b02477

Cite This Page:

American Chemical Society. "E- textiles control home appliances with the swipe of a finger." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 June 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613113740.htm>.
American Chemical Society. (2018, June 13). E- textiles control home appliances with the swipe of a finger. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613113740.htm
American Chemical Society. "E- textiles control home appliances with the swipe of a finger." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613113740.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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