Flexible fiber batteries for applications in smart textiles

Here we discuss two alternative approaches for building flexible batteries for applications in smart textiles. The first approach uses well-studied inorganic electrochemistry (Al-NaOCl galvanic cell) and innovative packaging in order to produce batteries in a slender and flexible fiber form that can be further weaved directly into the textiles. During fabrication process the battery electrodes are co-drawn within a microstructured polymer fiber, which is later filled with liquid electrolyte. The second approach describes Li-ion chemistry within solid polymer electrolytes that are used to build a fully solid and soft rechargeable battery that can be furthermore stitched onto a textile, or integrated as stripes during weaving process

Soft capacitor fibers using conductive polymers for electronic textiles

A novel, highly flexible, conductive polymer-based fiber with high electric capacitance is reported. In its crossection the fiber features a periodic sequence of hundreds of conductive and isolating plastic layers positioned around metallic electrodes. The fiber is fabricated using fiber drawing method, where a multi-material macroscopic preform is drawn into a sub-millimeter capacitor fiber in a single fabrication step. Several kilometres of fibers can be obtained from a single preform with fiber diameters ranging between 500um -1000um. A typical measured capacitance of our fibers is 60-100 nF/m and it is independent of the fiber diameter. For comparison, a coaxial cable of the comparable dimensions would have only ~0.06nF/m capacitance. Analysis of the fiber frequency response shows that in its simplest interrogation mode the capacitor fiber has a transverse resistance of 5 kOhm/L, which is inversely proportional to the fiber length L and is independent of the fiber diameter. Softness of the fiber materials, absence of liquid electrolyte in the fiber structure, ease of scalability to large production volumes, and high capacitance of our fibers make them interesting for various smart textile applications ranging from distributed sensing to energy storage

Bioengineered Textiles and Nonwovens – the convergence of bio-miniaturisation and electroactive conductive polymers for assistive healthcare, portable power and design-led wearable technology

Today, there is an opportunity to bring together creative design activities to exploit the responsive and adaptive ‘smart’ materials that are a result of rapid development in electro, photo active polymers or OFEDs (organic thin film electronic devices), bio-responsive hydrogels, integrated into MEMS/NEMS devices and systems respectively. Some of these integrated systems are summarised in this paper, highlighting their use to create enhanced functionality in textiles, fabrics and non-woven large area thin films. By understanding the characteristics and properties of OFEDs and bio polymers and how they can be transformed into implementable physical forms, innovative products and services can be developed, with wide implications. The paper outlines some of these opportunities and applications, in particular, an ambient living platform, dealing with human centred needs, of people at work, people at home and people at play. The innovative design affords the accelerated development of intelligent materials (interactive, responsive and adaptive) for a new product & service design landscape, encompassing assistive healthcare (smart bandages and digital theranostics), ambient living, renewable energy (organic PV and solar textiles), interactive consumer products, interactive personal & beauty care (e-Scent) and a more intelligent built environment

Textile elements for car seat to improve user’s driving comfort

The main motive for this research is the desire for the improvement of the automotive seat occupant’s comfort by designing a heating mat prototype made with distance knitting technology with heating elements. In this study, the following design steps were undertaken: preparation of the trajectories of heating cables, calculating the resistance needed to obtain the estimated power of the whole mat, testing of available electroconductive yarns to assign the most suitable yarn to a specific design, preparation and testing of five heating mat prototypes with three various trajectories of the heating element. All samples were evaluated with the same criteria in order to find the most promising design. After all experiments, a prototype with stainless-steel BekaertVR VN 12.2 coated yarn as a heating element, showed the best performance, especially in combination with distance knitted fabric thanks to its internal construction. This work demonstrates that a three-dimensional distance knitted fabric with a heating element introduced into its structure will ensure the physiological sitting comfort. After further subsequent studies, the proposed method can be adapted for industrialisation by using warp knitting machines, thus improving the quality and durability of the heating mat

The future design direction of smart clothing development

Literature indicates that Smart Clothing applications, the next generation of clothing and electronic products, have been struggling to enter the mass market because the consumers’ latent needs have not been recognised. Moreover, the design direction of Smart Clothes remains unclear and unfocused. Nevertheless, a clear design direction is necessary for all product development. Therefore, this research aims to identify the design directions of the emerging Smart Clothes industry by conducting a questionnaire survey and focus groups with its major design contributors. The results reveal that the current strategy of embedding a wide range of electronic functions in a garment is not suitable. This is primarily because it does not match the users’ requirements, purchasing criteria and lifestyle. The results highlight the respondents’ preference for personal healthcare and sportswear applications that suit their lifestyle, are aesthetically attractive, and provide a practical function

Aperture-coupled patch antenna for integration into wearable textile systems

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Export prospects of Middle Eastern countries : a post-Uruguay Round analysis

Exports in the Middle Eastern countries should increase from $800 million to$900 million as a result of the tariff cuts agreed on in the Uruguay Round, according to the author.This represents an annual expansion of less than 1 percent. Projected gains are small because the erosion of tariff preferences that Middle Eastern countries received in OECD markets offset the positive effects of reduced most-favored-nation tariffs on nonpreference-receiving products. And petroleum, the main Middle Eastern export--which generally faces zero or low tariffs--is unaffected by the Uruguay Round reductions. Egypt's projected gains (about $20 million, or under 0.5 percent of total exports) are concentrated largely in agricultural exports to the European Union and manufactures in the United States. Israel should experience net trade losses because of the erosion of its free trade preferences in the European Union and the United States. The Uruguay Round made major progress in removing nontariff barriers that Middle Eastern exports face, especially in agriculture, textiles, and clothing. But with the removal of the Multifibre Arrangement, international trade in textiles and clothing will become much more competitive. Middle Eastern countries must adopt measures to cut costs and increase efficiency to remain viable exporters. As a result of what was achieved in the Uruguay Round, the average OECD nontariff barrier coverage ration for Middle Eastern exports should fall from a current 10 percent to between 1 and 2 percent. Net food importing countries could be adversely affected by the higher international food prices expected to result from the Uruguay Round agreement. There is a clear priority for net food importers to adopt reforms stimulating domestic production. Prospects for increased trade in the Middle East are constrained by the similar comparative advantages and export profiles of many Middle Eastern countries. The most favorable prospects for intraregional trade appear to be between countries such as Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, and Turkey--net energy importers--and the rest of the region.Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Agribusiness&Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Export Competitiveness,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Agribusiness&Markets,Export Competitiveness

White paper on the future of plasma science and technology in plastics and textiles

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: “Uros, C., Walsh, J., Cernák, M., Labay, C., Canal, J.M., Canal, C. (2019) White paper on the future of plasma science and technology in plastics and textiles. Plasma processes and polymers, 16 1 which has been published in final form at [doi: 10.1002/ppap.201700228]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."This white paper considers the future of plasma science and technology related to the manufacturing and modifications of plastics and textiles, summarizing existing efforts and the current state‐of‐art for major topics related to plasma processing techniques. It draws on the frontier of plasma technologies in order to see beyond and identify the grand challenges which we face in the following 5–10 years. To progress and move the frontier forward, the paper highlights the major enabling technologies and topics related to the design of surfaces, coatings and materials with non‐equilibrium plasmas. The aim is to progress the field of plastics and textile production using advanced plasma processing as the key enabling technology which is environmentally friendly, cost efficient, and offers high‐speed processingPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Regenerated Cellulose Fiber Solar Cell

Wearable electronics and smart textiles are growing fields in the cause to integrate modern communication and computing tools into clothing instead of carrying around smart phones and tablets. Naturally, this also requires power sources to be integrated in textiles. In this paper, a proof-of-concept is presented in form of a photovoltaic cell based on a commercially available viscose fiber. This has been realized using a silver nanowire network around the viscose fiber to establish electrical contact and a photoactive coating using the standard workhorse among organic thin film solar cells, a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Structure and performance of single fiber devices demonstrate their feasibility and functionality. The applied materials and methods are compatible to solution processing therewith qualifying for potential roll-to-roll large-scale production