Nature inspired, environment friendly fibrous flexible electronics and photonics

这项提议的重点是设计和设计新型纤维材料和设备，这些材料和设备以多功能可伸缩纺织品的形式集成在一起，以增强智能纺织品、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显了纱线和纺织品形式的电子产品发展的重大机遇，这些电子产品具有透气性、坚固性和生物兼容性。事实上，在自然系统中，从肌肉纤维、神经和静脉等不同的纤维结构合并形成一个复杂的功能系统。这些系统突出了电子纤维和纺织品的巨大机遇，具有卓越的灵活性、低成本的卷到卷制造、改进的生物兼容性和多功能设计的可能性。到2022年，电子纺织品市场预计将达到700亿美元[1]，包括健康和健康、体育、时尚、军事和物联网等多个行业。 为了抓住这些机会，我与人共同创立了加拿大智能纺织品和可穿戴联盟的成员--UBC柔性电子和纺织品中心(CFET)，以推动这一重要领域的创新。在新型纳米纤维和纺织材料和设备以及最先进的原型基础设施方面的现有专业知识构成了这项提议的基础。 为了模仿天然纤维系统，我们建议开发具有机械弹性但坚固耐用的纱线，这些纱线具有发光、传感和储能等功能。不同的纱线可以针织、机织或层压，以开发出透气和可拉伸的多功能纺织品。这项研究计划解决材料开发、设备工程和用于发光、传感和储能的功能纱线的制造以及新型集成纺织原型设计方面的科学和技术挑战。我们开发了在纱线上形成多层有机发光二极管层的方法，用于透气和灵活的展示纺织品，由于纤维直径小，有可能提高光提取效率。通过用新型纳米结构薄膜和量子点对电纺纳米纤维和纱线进行功能化，我们研究了高灵敏度多功能传感器阵列的开发，作为开发可伸缩传感纺织品的平台。在这里，木质素等环境友好的天然材料将作为纤维的来源材料进行探索。通过控制木质素纱线的纳米孔结构，我们探索了用于超级电容器和电池等储能设备的新型电极，以提高容量、循环寿命和灵活性。将展示纺织原型与通信和数据处理电路的集成，以实现新的应用。

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.