Nature inspired, environment friendly fibrous flexible electronics and photonics

该提案的重点是设计和工程新型纤维材料和设备，这些材料和设备以多功能可拉伸纺织品的形式集成，以实现智能纺织品，健康监测和物联网（IoT）的革命性应用。柔性塑料薄膜上的纳米材料和器件的最新进展突出了以纱线和纺织品形式开发电子产品的重要机会，这些纱线和纺织品提供透气性，耐用性和生物相容性。事实上，在自然系统中，不同的纤维结构，从肌肉纤维，神经和静脉合并，形成一个复杂的功能系统。这样的系统突出了电子纤维和纺织品具有上级柔性、低成本卷对卷制造、改善的生物相容性和多功能设计的可能性的重要机会。到2022年，电子纺织品市场预计将达到700亿美元[1]，其中包括健康与保健、体育、时尚、军事和物联网等多个领域。 为了抓住这些机会，我与人共同创立了UBC柔性电子和纺织品中心（CFET），该中心是加拿大智能纺织品和可穿戴联盟的成员，旨在推动这一重要领域的创新。现有的新型纺织材料和设备方面的专业知识以及最先进的原型基础设施构成了该提案的基础。 为了模仿天然纤维系统，我们建议开发具有机械柔性但坚固耐用的纱线，以提供发光，传感和储能等功能。不同的纱线可以针织、机织或层压，以开发透气和拉伸的多功能纺织品。该研究计划解决了材料开发，设备工程和功能纱线制造的科学和技术挑战，用于光发射，传感和能量存储以及新型集成纺织品原型的设计。我们开发了用于在纱线上形成多层有机发光二极管层的方法，用于透气和柔性显示纺织品，其具有凭借纤维的小直径提高光提取效率的潜力。通过用新型纳米结构薄膜和量子点功能化电纺纳米纤维和纱线，我们研究了高灵敏度多功能传感器阵列的发展，作为开发可延展传感纺织品的平台。在这里，将探索环境友好的天然材料，如木质素作为纤维的原料。通过控制所提出的木质素纱线的纳米多孔结构，我们探索了用于储能设备的新型电极，如超级电容器和电池，具有更高的容量，循环寿命和灵活性。将展示纺织品原型与通信和数据处理电路的集成，用于新的应用。

This proposal focuses on design and engineering of novel fibrous materials and devices that are integrated in form of multifunctional stretchable textiles for empowering revolutionary applications in smart textiles, health monitoring and internet of things (IoT). Recent advances in nanomaterials and devices on thin flexible plastic films highlight significant opportunity for development of electronics in form of yarn and textile that provide breathability, ruggedness and biological compatibility. In fact, in natural systems, different fibrous structures ranging from muscle fibers, nerves, and veins merge to form a complex functional system. Such systems highlight significant opportunity for electronic fibers and textiles with superior flexibility, low cost roll-to-roll manufacturing, improved biocompatibility and possibility for multifunctional designs. The market for electronic textile is expected to reach $70B by 2022 [1] with several sectors including health and wellness, sports, fashion, military and IoT. In line with these opportunities, I have co-founded UBC Centre for Flexible Electronics and Textile (CFET), a member of Canada's Smart Textile and Wearable Alliance, to drive innovation in this important area. The existing expertise in novel nanofiber and textile materials and devices and state-of-the-art prototyping infrastructure form the foundation of this proposal. To mimic natural fibrous systems, we propose development of mechanically flexible yet rugged yarns that deliver functions such as light emission, sensing and energy storage. Different yarns can be knitted, woven or laminated for development of multifunctional textiles that are breathable and stretchable. This research program addresses scientific and technological challenges in material development, device engineering and fabrication of functional yarns for light emission, sensing and energy storage and design of novel integrated textile prototypes. We develop processes for formation of multi-layered organic light emitting diode layers on yarns for breathable and flexible display textiles that have potential for improved light extraction efficiency by virtue of the small diameter of the fibers. By functionalizing electrospun nanofibers and yarns with novel nanostructured films and quantum dots, we investigate development of highly sensitive multifunctional sensor arrays as a platform for development of malleable sensing textiles. Here, environment-friendly natural materials such as lignin will be explored as a source material for fibers. By controlling the nanoporous structure of proposed lignin yarns, we explore novel electrodes for energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and batteries with improved capacity, cycle life and flexibility. Integration of textile prototypes with communication and data processing circuitry for novel applications will be demonstrated.