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Fiber-Based Wearable Electronics: A Review of Materials,
REVIEW
Fabrication, Devices, and Applications
Wei Zeng, Lin Shu, Qiao Li, Song Chen, Fei Wang, and Xiao-Ming Tao*
and technically feasible to build electronic

Fiber-based structures are highly desirable for wearable electronics that functions on the surface or inside a fiber,
are expected to be light-weight, long-lasting, flexible, and conformable. which typically has an aspect ratio of
Many fibrous structures have been manufactured by well-established lost- over 50 with a thickness/diameter in the
range from ∼1 to 50 microns. Through
effective textile processing technologies, normally at ambient conditions.
well established and cost-effective textile
The advancement of nanotechnology has made it feasible to build electronic production processes, these fibers are fur-
devices directly on the surface or inside of single fibers, which have typical ther converted into one-, two- and three-
thickness of several to tens microns. However, imparting electronic func- dimensional fiber assemblies, e.g. yarns,
tions to porous, highly deformable and three-dimensional fiber assemblies fabrics, spacer fabrics etc. The convergence
of textiles technologies, electrical engi-
and maintaining them during wear represent great challenges from both
neering and electronics, has the potential
views of fundamental understanding and practical implementation. This to combine the positive attributes of each
article attempts to critically review the current state-of-arts with respect to technology, the speed and computational
materials, fabrication techniques, and structural design of devices as well as capacity of modern electronics, with the
applications of the fiber-based wearable electronic products. In addition, this flexible, wearable, and continuous nature
review elaborates the performance requirements of the fiber-based wearable of fiber assemblies. The hierarchical nature
(fiber – yarn – fabric – product, etc.) of
electronic products, especially regarding the correlation among materials,
these fibrous structures makes it particu-
fiber/textile structures and electronic as well as mechanical functionalities of larly suitable for the fabrication of wearable
fiber-based electronic devices. Finally, discussions will be presented regarding electronics.[2]
to limitations of current materials, fabrication techniques, devices concerning These fiber assemblies possess many
manufacturability and performance as well as scientific understanding that unique characteristics appropriate to
wearable systems. They have softness
must be improved prior to their wide adoption.
and flexibility to deform under small
external force or their own weights with
typical Young’s modulus in the range
1. Introduction from several MPas to KPas. They normally have large spe-
cific surface areas in the order of 102–3 m2/kg; various levels
Next generation of wearable electronics demands the systems of porosity up to 99%; structurally defined fiber orientation
directly worn on soft and curved human body that is covered and packing density. Furthermore, they own an outstanding
with highly extensible skins (with an average elongation from ability to maintain structural integrity in wear and washing,
3% to 55%).[1] Fiber-based wearable electronic systems hold typically over several millions of loading cycles in dry con-
great promises. Fiber-based clothing systems have been made dition, and some 30 washing cycles according to AATCC
and used by humans for thousands of years as they are soft and standard. Mechanically, they can be stretched, twisted, bent or
deformable, breathable, durable and washable, thus ideal to be sheared thus exhibiting unique ability in three-dimensional
explored as the platforms for future wearable electronics.[1] On drape. Thermally, their high porosity and large surface area
the other hand, the rapid development of nanoscience and nano- allow much still air to be trapped as insulator in cold weather,
technology in the recent decade has accelerated the miniaturiza- and the porosity is also the route for hot air and water vapor
tion process of electronic devices. Now it is scientifically proven to escape from the human body in hot climate. Breathability,
as a major concern for the comfort of the electronic assem-
blies, is a basic requirement to long-term wrap comfortably
W. Zeng, L. Shu, Q. Li, S. Chen, around curvilinear human skins with millions of pores.[3] The
F. Wang, X.-M. Tao
Institute of Textiles and Clothing outstanding fatigue resistance is due to the structures of the
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University fiber assemblies. One of the two important contributing fac-
Hong Kong tors is that the induced strain in the fibers is very small even
Tel: + 852-27666470 when a large deformation occurs and the fatigue life is expo-
Fax: + 852-27731432
E-mail: [email protected]
nentially linked to the internal strain. The other factor is the
high damage tolerance offered by the fiber assemblies. Fiber
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633 assemblies are excellent crack arrestors. The large number of
Adv. Mater. 2014, © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim wileyonlinelibrary.com 1
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633
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fibers in the assemblies prevents catastrophic failure of the

structure. In the fiber assemblies, there is no similar crack Prof. Xiaoming Tao has been
propagation to that occurs in solid thin films and no cata- Chair Professor of Textile
strophic rapture upon failure. Technology at The Hong
In recent years, fibers or fiber assemblies (textile struc- Kong Polytechnic University
tures) with add-on or built-in electronic or photonic function- since 2002. She is a Fellow
ality has been an active area of research Fiber-based flexible of American Society of
electronics present exciting possibilities for flexible circuits,[4] Mechanical Engineering,
interfacing computers/processors,[5] skin-like pressure sen- Textile Institute and Royal
sors,[6] conformable radio-frequency identification tags[7] and Society of Arts, Design and
other devices with the human body.[6a,8] Examples of poten- Commercial Applications.
tial applications of this technology include military garment She is the recipient of the
devices, biomedical and antimicrobial textiles, and personal Honorary Fellowship of the
electronics.[5a,9] These research and development activities are Textile Institute, the highest individual award in textiles and
primarily driven by the motivation of creating fiber assemblies the Founder’s Award of Fiber Society of USA, the highest
that have functions of sensing, actuating, communicating and individual award in fiber science and technology. Prof.
computing etc.[10] The potential for developing light-weight, Tao’s research covers intelligent fibrous and flexible mate-
flexible, and conformable electronic devices on textile prod- rials, photonic fibers and fabrics, fiber-based electronics
ucts is very significant. Textile substrates offer tremendous and photonics, and textile manufacturing technology.
opportunities to deploy sensors and other devices, built-in or
embedded into the fabric-based network, to create large-area
electrical and electronic systems.[11] 2.1. Materials
For the realization of the fiber-based wearable electronics, the
most important consideration is the development of sustain- The development of conductive or semi-conductive materials,
able flexible systems which support high carrier mobility and which are flexible and soft, is essential for fiber-based wearable
good overall electrical performance, together with mechanical electronics because of their unique electronic, chemical and
and environmental stability.[12] The search for fiber-building mechanical properties.[13] Materials like conductive polymers,
materials that can be used as active ingredients as well as metals and metal oxide nanoparticles/nanowires, carbon based
fibrous substrates still continues in parallel with research in micron/nano materials, such as carbon particles (CP), carbon
multiple physics of these intrinsically heterogeneous structures. nanotubes (CNTs), carbon fiber and graphene, have been used
Improved understanding in the material formation, integra- and investigated. These materials are promising for a variety of
tion, and processing has been advanced and derivation of such applications including flexible optical and electronic devices, and
knowledge is a result from seamless collaboration of multiple chemical and biological sensors.[14] Devices based made from
disciplines. fibers of such conducting materials typically exhibit enhanced
This article reviews the current status of the fiber-based electronic performance, such as higher field-effect, good mobility
wearable electronics in a light of their future promise in the and steep subthreshold slope, leading to lower operating volt-
areas of healthcare, environmental monitoring, displays and ages V, an important consideration in low-power circuit design.
human–machine interactivity, energy conversion, manage-
ment and storage, and communication and wireless networks.
It covers conductive materials and fabrication techniques, 2.1.1. Conducting Polymers
electronic components, devices and applications of fiber-based
wearable electronics. An attempt will be made to review criti- Ideally, if all the electronic functionalities could be realized
cally the numerous publications in the literature and discus- in a fiber itself, such fibers would provide a perfect building
sions will also be presented regarding to limitations of current material for smart apparel as they could be naturally inte-
materials and devices with respect to manufacturability and grated into textiles during weaving process.[15] Because of the
practicality that must be resolved and improved prior to their technical complexity of integration of advanced electronic
wide adoption. functionalities into a textile fiber, currently there are only few
examples of such fibers. Perhaps the most promising mate-
rials are organic polymers or compounds of small molecules
2. Conductive Materials because they are intrinsically flexible or can be blended in
fiber making composite materials. In addition, because they
One important consideration for fiber-based wearable electronics are synthesized from basic building blocks, they can be tuned
is the choice of materials used in fabrication and the possibility to have specifically tailored chemical, physical, and electronic
to confer the high carrier mobility and good overall electrical properties. Since the discovery that conjugated polymers can be
performance, together with desirable mechanical properties, made to conduct electricity through doping,[16] a tremendous
safety and environmental stability into the flexible devices/sys- amount of research work has been carried out in the field of
tems. The following section will discuss some of the materials conductive polymer fibers. These conducting polymers are of
and fabrication technology frequently used to accomplish these great scientific and technological importance because of their
goals. unique electronic, electrical, magnetic and optical properties.
2 wileyonlinelibrary.com © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Adv. Mater. 2014,
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633
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Nano-scaled π-conjugated organic molecules and polymers
REVIEW
because of its low cost, excellent health and safety perfor-
have been investigated for sensors, actuators, transistors, flex- mance, porous structure and ability to impart high electrical
ible electronic devices, and field emission display in the textiles conductivity to an insulating polymer fiber or fiber based textile
system.[17] There are different routes to prepare fibers of various substrate. Further, these nanoporous conductive architectures
conducting polymers. Polyaniline nanofibers were prepared by can work as both a secondary current collector and an elec-
polymerization of aniline.[18] Similarly polypyrrole nanofibers trode, simultaneously enlarging the surface area and providing
were synthesized (60–100 nm in diameter) in presence of both nanoporous channels for low-resistant ion diffusion and
p-hydroxy-azobenzene sulfonic acid as a functional dopant.[19] nano-sized skeletons for fast electron transfer.[25] A key consid-
The fibers have a high conductivity (120–130 S/cm) at room eration for CNT-based wearable electronics is the use of indi-
temperature and a photoisomerization function that results vidual CNTs versus networks of CNTs.[27] However, large-scale
from proton doping and isomerization of azobenzene moiety. applications of individual CNTs have been limited by the dif-
In particular, poly-(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) has ficulty in their structure control. As a solution, more and more
been the most successful conducting polymer due to its high attention has been paid to assemble CNTs into macroscopic
conductivity and solution processability and has being explored fibers in which the CNTs are highly aligned to maintain high
as electrodes for flexible and wearable capacitors or photo- mechanical strength and electrical conductivity of individual
diodes.[20] However, films made from PEDOT, and other con- CNTs.[27,28] The reported value of electrical conductivity of CNT
ducting polymers, tend to have a bluish tint, which limits their fibers show significant discrepancy, which vary from <10 to
use in displays.[21] In addition, similarly to semiconducting >5000 S/cm.[29] The electrical conductivity of a pure CNT fiber
polymers, stability issues have limited their use in wearable depended on the electrical properties of the individual CNTs,
LEDs and solar cells.[22] Several groups have recently demon- the intertube contact resistance, and the applied temperature.
strated all-fiber organic transistors which can potentially allow Recently, Zhao et al. reported an electrical conductivity as high
creation of electronic logic circuits by weaving.[23] Despite the as 6.7 × 108 S/cm for iodine-doped CNT fibers, which repre-
great challenge of environmental instability, ongoing research sents a new record for CNT fibers.[30] Considering all their
continues to produce better electrically performing and more desirable attributes, CNT fibers are anticipated to have a broad
stable organic semiconductors and conductors towards the fab- range of potential applications, such as fiber-based sensors,
rication of practical flexible and stretchable electronic devices transmission lines, microelectrodes and solar cell. The carbon
based on organic materials. fibers have also been explored as electrode materials for flex-
ible energy-storage because of the notable features including
highly-exposed surface areas, high electrical conductivity, and
2.1.2. Carbon-Based Micro/Nano Materials good chemical stability.[31] Particularly, carbon fibers can be
woven into various forms cloths. These fabric carbon fibers
0-, 1- and 2-dimensional carbon-based micro/nano materials are outstanding substrates for wearable electronics, and usu-
are promising for flexible and wearable electronics, both as the ally combine with pseudocapacitive materials to enhance the
channel material in field-effect transistors and as transparent energy density of the wearable capacitor.[25,32]
electrodes, due to their unique properties such as their high
intrinsic carrier mobility (106 cm2 V−1 S−1), electrical conduc-
tivities (104 S/cm) and superior mechanical properties (elastic 2.1.3. Metallic Nanoparticles/Nanowires
modulus in the order of 1 TPa), environmental stability and the
potential for production at low cost.[24] Porous carbon materials Low dimensional nanostructures of metals, e.g., nanowires
with a large specific surface area and mechanical properties (NWs) or nanoparticles, are particularly attractive for fiber-
have been frequently employed in wearable electronics, such based flexible and wearable electronics because they have very
as CP, CNTs, carbon fibers (including carbon microfibers and high conductivities.[4c,33] For instance, Ni- and Au-plated Kevlar
carbon nanofibers), graphene, carbon aerogels, et al. Among fibers can display electric conductivity values of 6 S/cm.[34] Sili-
various carbon materials, CNTs and graphene are the two of cone fibers filled with Ag flakes reach 470 S/cm, whereas nylon
the most intensively explored carbon allotropes in materials fiber mats coated with Ag using a commercial electrodeless
science, and also been evaluated as the electrode materials plating solution exceed ∼1800 S/cm when loaded with ∼17 wt%
with great potential in wearable electronics.[25] Currently, elec- Ag.[35] However, the roughness, haze, and stability issues have
trodes based on these two well-known carbon materials have hindered their emergence in industry. Ongoing efforts are
become a hot topic for high-performance flexible electronics. being made on improving the stability of metallic nanowires/
It has been demonstrated that commodity cotton threads can nanoparticles and utilizing them in flexibly electronic applica-
be transformed into smart electronic yarns and wearable fabric tions. A recent publication shows the promise of metallic NWs,
devices for monitoring of human vital signs using a polyelec- as demonstrated in a novel all-fiber piezoelectric nanogenerator
trolyte-based coating with CNTs. A stretchable, porous, and using a highly stretchable silver coated polyamide fabric as the
conductive textile fabric has recently been invented by a simple elastic fabric electrodes.[36] The resultant generator exhibits a
“dipping and drying” process using a single-walled carbon high durability (greater than 1 000 000 loading cycles) and good
nanotube (SWNT) ink.[26] The loading of pseudo capacitor electric power generating performance in a cyclic compression
materials into these conductive textiles can lead to a 24-fold test simulating human walking conditions. Compared to other
increase of the areal capacitance of the device. Compared metal foil or metal coated thin film electrodes, the three dimen-
to CNTs and graphene, CP has been extensively employed sional structure of the fabric electrodes provides much reliable
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electric contact and flexibility, which are critical for soft and NaNbO3 NWs and PVDF composite nanofibers is sandwiched,
wearable generators in which the electrodes are under a large as shown in Figure 1. Such an all-fiber nanogenerator survives
number of deformation cycles. at least 1 000 000 compression cycles without failure.[45]
2.1.4. Fiber-Based Electrodes 3. Fabrication Technology

Fiber-based electrodes are light, durable, flexible, foldable and 3.1. Fabrication Methods
comfortable thus ideal for wearable electronics. They have been
extensively studied for various wearable applications, ranging Fabrication methods play an important role in determining the
from dry surface bio-potential measurements like ECG, EMG characteristics, cost, and stability of the fiber-based flexible and
and electric stimulation, electrodes for antenna, photovol- wearable electronics. Generally, various approaches to make
taic cells, electric power nanogenerators, batteries, capacitors, fiber-based flexible and wearable electronics can be grouped
almost all sandwich-structured wearable electronic devices. into two categories. In the first category, electronic devices are
Textile-structured electrodes like single fibers, yarns and fabrics fabricated by using conducting fibers made from conductive
have been developed and investigated. Some of them are made polymer, metal, carbon, piezoelectric materials, or conventional
from CNTs, metals or metal alloys like copper, silver, nickel fibers surface modified with various functional materials.[46] A
alloys, stainless steel; others are made from dielectric textiles by number of e-textile research groups have focused on conduc-
surface coating, plating, embroidery, printing, and lamination. tive threads or yarns to integrate electronics into fabrics.[47]
Thus there are many hybrid or composite structures, including Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
reduced graphene oxide/nylon yarn,[37] graphene-ferroelectric and Virginia Tech studied woven metallic organza or piezoelec-
hybrid electrode,[38] functional coatings on yarn,[39] Poly(styrene- tric materials for the fabric keyboard and music jackets.[47b,c]
β-isobutylene- β-styrene)-poly(3-hexylthiophene) (SIBS-P3HT) Cottet studied electrical characteristics of polyester yarns that
conducting composite fibers,[40] Ag-silicone fibers,[41] fibers con- are twisted with a copper (Cu) fiber.[47d] Examples also include
taining liquid metal alloy like eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) the work published by our group, X–Y grids of copper wires
injected into the core of stretchable hollow fibers composed of were integrated into woven textiles to form interconnect
a triblock copolymer, SEBS resin (EGaIn in SEBS resin),[42] a lines.[48] Locher proposed a conducting band interconnection
conductive composite mat of silver nanoparticles and rubber technology between textiles and electronics.[49] The fiber-based
fibers,[43] and twisted graphene yarns.[44] approach has resulted in excellent wearable properties that
Knitted fabric electrodes have played an important role in a mimic regular textiles and withstand mechanic deformations
highly durable electric-power generator. By incorporating silver like bending, twisting, and stretching.
coated polyamide multifilament yarns into elastic knitted fabric The second category, which is complementary to the
electrodes, by which a piezoelectric nonwoven fabric made from first one, is based on embedding off-the-shelf miniature or
Figure 1. Highly durable piezoelectric nanogenerator based on PVDF/NaNbO3 nanocomposite and conductive fabric electrodes. Reproduced with
permission.[45] Copyright 2014, RSC.
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some interest.[52] Surface mounting technology used in elec-
REVIEW
thin-film-based electronic components like transducers etc.
onto conventional dielectric fabrics as a motherboard or tronic industry has its direct sister in textile industry, that is,
imparting electronic functions on the surface of fabrics by lamination technology. The thin-film based devices can be
coating or printing or lamination. However, the flexibility or attached onto conventional textile fabrics by thermoplastic
comfort of the fabric may be compromised if the attached com- adhesives. Apart from that, for the fabrication of free standing
ponents are rigid. Despite substantial improvements over rigid electronic devices directly on textile substrates, three tech-
devices, many of current flexible e-textiles cannot fully conform nologies, i.e. screen printing, digital printing and dip-coating,
to their surroundings, due to the inability of large elongation have been developed to fabricate solution processable wear-
in metals and conductive polymers.[50] Further, to maintain able devices in textile substrate. One key advantage of these
essential textile properties such as durability, it is more desir- methods is that they facilitate the use of low-cost patterning
able to integrate electronic functions at the fiber level, however, techniques at room condition. Screen printing screen providing
most of the current work are limited to a single functionality. an easily adopted fabrication route for fabrication of wearable
Except the excellent conductivity, other properties of the flexible electronics, all the layers with different functions are printed
conductor are same or similar with the common fibers/yarns on top of the fabric substrate through a layer-by-layer process
and can be easily woven or knitted with common yarn together as shown in Figure 1. This process does not need extra pho-
into a new electrical functional fabric that possesses wearability, tolithographic and chemical etching processes as each struc-
process-ability, and flexibility. The stretchable conductors can tural pattern is directly defined with every layer application.[53]
be knitted or woven with other common yarns into an electric In addition, screen printing is also compatible with industrial
functioned fabric to form designed electric circuit. The elec- roll-to-roll processes, offering a route to high volume batch
tric functioned fabric with embedded (woven or knitted) elec- fabrication. Our previous work reported a fabric strain sensor
tric circuit forming the basic grid is the essential materials for screen-printed with activated carbon. Since the conductive pat-
e-textiles. A method of combining thin-film flexible electronic tern is incorporated within the textile, it ensures that sensors
devices has been reported at fiber level including sensors and are repeatedly positioned in the same location on the body.[6b,54]
transistors, interconnect lines, and commercial integrated cir- This will lead to improved accuracy of the sensor by preventing
cuits with plastic fibers that can be woven into textiles using sensor misplacement. Textile energy storage devices were made
a commercial manufacturing process.[51] To weave the flexible by screen printing activated carbon paint onto custom knitted
and wearable electronics, the electronic fibers are woven the fabrics.[31c] The screen printing technique offers a high areal
weft direction of a woven fabric by a commercial band weaving mass loading while retaining the high intrinsic capacitance of
machine. This method creates a platform to integrate a large activated carbon. The fabric surfaces normally have a rough-
variety of flexible electronic circuits, sensors, and systems on ness in the order of 10 microns. However, the surface rough-
fibers intimately within textile architectures using a commer- ness can be greatly improved to the required level for device
cial manufacturing route. interfaces by controlled multiple-coating techniques. Further,
the screen printing method has excellent applicability on any
irregular textile surface that can offers significantly more
3.2. Surface Mounting Technology design freedom and placement capability on fabrics than other
methods like weaving and knitting. Screen printed devices have
Integration of electronic functions within fabrics, with pro- been reported with Figure 2 demonstrating a typical fabrication
duction methods fully compatible with textiles, is therefore of process for cantilever MEM devices on fabrics.[55]
Figure 2. Printing sequence of a capacitive cantilever though layer-by-layer screen printing process.[55] Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2014,
Yang Wei.
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Compared to the screen printing technology, digital printing 4. E-Components, Devices and Applications
technology has the advantage of high spatial precision of ink
droplet. Combined with inkjet printing provides an exciting Fiber-based wearable electronic devices demand simultaneous
opportunity to apply on-demand material deposition and achievements of electronic functions and robust mechanical
desktop programmable wiring of designed patterns. The latter properties.[72] This section presents some representative struc-
has already been demonstrated for metal, CNT and graphene- tures for various fiber-based wearable devices, ranging from a
based inks.[56] In addition, piezoelectric, piezoresistive and single nano-, or micro-fiber/wire to multiple fiber-level com-
capacitive elements also can be developed by digital printing ponents,[73] or from yarn integrated textiles to building blocks
technology for detecting deformation of a fabric.[57] Dip-coating on fiber assemblies, with detailed investigation into their cor-
is another possible technique. Conductive yarns were made by responding electrical stability under different mechanical defor-
dip-coating PVA/CNT on a polyamide yarn.[58] This technique mations, particularly in bending and extension modes.[72,74]
depends greatly on the surface morphology and surface tension
of the textile substrate, which can also vary from section to sec-
tion and may result in non-uniform coatings.[59] 4.1. E-Textile Components
4.1.1. Fiber Transistors

3.3. Conductive Nano-Coating Technologies
The reported fiber transistors can be divided into two catego-
Conductive nano-coating technologies are another effec- ries: fiber organic field-effect transistors (OFET)[75–77] and wire
tive approach to integrate electronic functions within fabrics electrochemical transistors (WECT),[52,78] as shown in Figure 3.
and improve the performance and functionality of wearable The former used a fiber-based four-layered cylindrical thin film
electronics.[60] An appropriate coating technology should structures,[78b] with insulating materials of either inorganic
impart the desired functionalities and/or provide a suitable oxides (i.e., SiO2) or polymer dielectrics (such as poly-4-vinyl-
interface layer for high durability.[61] Without careful surface phenol (PVP),[76] ∼10 nF/cm2),[78d] and conducting materials for
engineering, coated textiles by simply adding various proper- gates and contacts of metals and conducting polymers (such as
ties would not survive during washing and wearing. Surface aluminum and stainless steel wires, PDOT/PSS).[75–76] Highly
modification of the fibers is essential to introduce strong ordered single polymer fibers (CDT-BTZ donor-acceptor copol-
surface interactions like covalent or ionic bonds. Due to the ymer single fiber[77a] were also adopted. WECT was fabricated
large surface area-to-volume ratio and high surface energy of by suspending two PDOT/PSS coated fibers in a cross geom-
nanomaterials, conductive coating with discrete molecules or etry and creating an ionic contact by adding an insulating layer/
conductive nanomaterials can bring individually to designated drop of the liquid or gel electrolyte (>10 µF/cm2) at the junction
sites on textile materials in a specific orientation and trajec- of fibers.[52,78d] A comparison of the performance between the
tory through thermodynamic, electrostatic or other methods. two kinds of fiber transistors is given in Table 1. Some studies
A number of approaches have been studied, including thermal have followed up to fabricate organic electrochemical transis-
and chemical vapour deposition,[62] chemical reduction,[63] tors with a high trans-conductance for bio-sensing applica-
electrochemical deposition,[64] pulsed laser deposition.[65] The tions[79] or to use single cotton fiber for liquid electrolyte saline
key consideration is if one can apply durable nano-scaled coat- sensing.[23d] A fiber-based organic electrolyte-gated thin-film
ings to textiles in a cost-effective manner while satisfying the transistor based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and imida-
requirement of electronic functions. In this regard, low-cost zolium ionic liquids was presented, which was able to operate
and low-temperature processes without vacuum environment in both field-effect and electrochemical operation modes, and
are preferred. enabled both delivery of large currents or high speeds (<1 kHz)
at low voltages.[78b]
As a fiber OFET requires precisely positioning and fibers
3.4. Self-Organizing Technologies with extremely smooth surfaces due to its sensitivity to the
gate insulator thickness, the channel length, and the smooth-
Some novel methods by material self-organization[66] have been ness of the substrate surface (for prevention of short cir-
reported to made fiber-based devices. For example, a fiber-based cuits),[80] WECT has more practical significance because of
micro-supercapacitor (SC) have been recently reported using its slight affections by the local geometry and relative ease
piezoelectric ZnO NWs grown radially around fibers.[67] These of manufacture.[80,81] The major drawback of WECT is the
fiber SCs comprise two fiber electrodes. Both fibers are cov- long response time and the consequent low switching fre-
ered with arrays of high quality ZnO NWs grown by the hydro- quency resulting from the electrodiffusion of ions within the
thermal method with one-step self-aligned dimensions. Other solid electrolyte where the ionic charge carriers have very low
inorganic semiconducting NWs include Si,[68] GaAs,[69] GaN,[70] mobility.[78a] To break the frequency limitation of WECT would
Ge[71] due to their flexibility and electronic performance. How- be a very important work in the future as the fiber transis-
ever, one may ask how well the process of self-organization, tors are basic building blocks of more complicated fiber based
assembly, and processing can be controlled at scalable produc- electronics that are expected not only confined to quasi-static
tion level to achieve reproducible material properties, especially, applications. One possible way is the dimensional scaling, for
when the mechanisms remain elusive and most work are of example, making the on-fiber PDOT:PSS channel thinner (de-
empirical nature at the present. doping it requires a smaller number of ions,[79] as the time
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Figure 3. Fiber transistors: (a) fiber organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), (b) wire electrochemical transistors (WECT). Reproduced with permission.[78a]
Copyright 2007, Nature Publishing Group.
characteristics of electrodiffusion processes scale with the is also the focus of present research on batteries and elec-
inverse square of characteristic lengths.[78a] Another direction trochemical capacitors,[82] and further studies of the mecha-
is the synthesis of new materials, especially the conducting nisms of ion transport in conducting polymers.[79,83] Besides,
polymers with a higher capacity for storing charge (which exploring ionic liquids and gels that enable higher voltage
operations has the potential for the achievement of higher
performances.[79,84]
Table 1. A comparison of the performance between fiber OFET and
WECT.
4.1.2. Fabric Antenna

Category Fiber OFET WECT
Mobility >0.5 cm2 V−1 s−1[76] Very low
The vast majority of the research work on fabric antennas in
Up to 1.4 cm2 V−1 s−1 the literature is relevant to patch antennas (rectangular micro-
Operating About 9–20 V 0–1.5 V strip antennas) due to their advantages of miniaturization,
voltages ease of integration, and good radiation directions. Some typical
On/off ratio 103−105 102–103 fabric patch antennas are given in Figure 4, which have upper
and lower conductive layers of antenna patch and ground plane
Advantages Good electrical character- Very low operating voltages, rela-
istics for many e-textile tively simple fabrication process,
and a middle layer of dielectric substrate.[85] Salvado presented
applications.[76] helpful for realization of analogue a detailed survey of textile materials for wearable antennas,[86]
and digital micro-electronics directly based on which we further examined the studies with reported
into textile, and integration of elec- good antenna performances and traced some recent work,
tronic function on new carriers.[52] which are summarized in Table 2. Transmission lines for high
Disadvantages High operation voltages, Long switch time frequency transmission are necessary for antennas, where
complex manufacturing (>4–5 seconds),[78d] long response woven fabrics with metal fibers,[47d] and embroidered conduc-
process, poor stability time. It might limit WECT tech- tive metal-polymer fibers on polymer-ceramic composites[87]
when fibers under mechan- nology to quasi-static applications are good candidates. Detailed examination was given[88] on
ical stress,[78b] significant with very low frequencies.[78a] the effects of conductive wire types and density, knitted pat-
dielectric leakage, and poor terns and weave patterns, effective electrical conductivity of the
reliability.[76]
conductive fabrics. The dielectric properties of nonconductive
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REVIEW
Figure 4. Fabric antennas based on the fundamental composition of a patch antenna: E-fiber antenna,[87] textile triband antenna,[89] dual polarized
textile antennas,[90] all textile antenna,[85] and circularly polarized antenna.[91] Reproduced with permission. Copyright, respectively, 2012, 2012, 2011,
2006, 2011, IEEE.
fabrics and the high frequency characterization of the electro- and resistivity distribution under extreme mechanical deforma-
textile materials were also included. tion during their assemblage and wearing, are worthy of further
Apart from those reported relative rigid textile patch antennas, studies, not only for conductive layers of the fabric antenna,
another group of stretchable antennas were developed,[4c] made but also in great need by SCs in wearable energy storage.[93] As
from conductive nano-materials and elastomeric fibers. The for the dielectric fabrics, whose dielectric constant and thick-
effects of washing, long-term ambient storage, temperature and ness determine the bandwidth and efficiency performance of a
humidity, oxidation, wear in the modes of stretching, bending planar microstrip antenna, the major problems are due to the
and folding as well as scratching on textile antennas deserves change of dielectric properties due to the moisture absorption
further studies. of fibers and the thickness change in the elongation, bending,
These antennas have been placed in the front, back, or or compressing.[86] Therefore materials with small moisture
shoulders of the garment.[90a,91,92] For application of healthcare, absorption (regain less than 3%) and suitable for manufac-
pervasive computing, and wearable personal usage, they offer turing of fibers and yarns are preferable for use as substrates
the possibility of the ubiquitous wireless transmission.[86] and also as conductive components of the antenna,[86] and
Fabric antenna needs both conductive and dielectric fab- some materials or structures that can maintain or recover the
rics. The conductive fabrics should meet the requirement of thickness in mechanical deformation can be further studied to
low sheet resistivity (≤1Ω/square), homogeneous resistivity guarantee of a stable fabric antenna.
distribution over the area, satisfactory flexibility and stretch-
ability.[85] Coated fabrics might perform worse than the fabrics
made entirely of conductive fibers, due to discontinuousness 4.1.3. Electric Connector
that may increase the resistivity, and woven structure is better
than knitted one because of its higher geometrical accuracy.[86] Connectors provide reliable electric connections between other
Highly conductive fibers and fabrics with outstanding flexibility electronic devices. In wearable electronics, the easy approach is
and stretchability, as well as superior stability of the resistivity to make largely deformable connectors thus the rigid islands of
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Table 2. Textile patch antennas.
Antenna Conductive layers Dielectric layer Antenna gain Frequency Band

E-fiber antenna[87] Embroidered surface of flexible PDMS substrate 5.6 dB(planar) 2.2 GHz
silver-coated Amberstrand fibers
3.0dB(curvi-linear)
Textile triband antenna[89] 2 dB 2.45 GHz (GSM), 1.9 GHz (PCS),
900 MHz (WLAN)
Dual polarized textile antennas[90] FlecTron for ground plane and A protective, water-repellent, fire- 6–7 dB 2.45 GHz
ShieldIt for patch, retardant foam
All textile antenna[85] Nickel-plated woven fabric, silver A woolen felt and a polyamide 4.4 dB, 5.5 dB 2.4 GHz
plated knitted fabric, silver- spacer fabric
copper-nickel plated woven fabric
Circularly polarized antenna[91] Silver and copper plated low-loss Cordura woven fabrics – 1575 MHz (GPS)
nylon woven fabrics
1625 MHz (Iridium Satellite)
miniature devices can be linked by stretchable electric connec- semiconductor (thickness: ∼20–50 nm, Young’s modulus:
tors as comparing to that make stretchable electronic devices. ∼130 GPa), it needs at least a 1-mm-thick PDMS substrate
Three types of approaches will be reviewed in this section. The with ∼2 MPa Young’s modulus.[118] Therefore, the substrate
first approach relies on the development of new stretchable and and further encapsulation layer have to be much thicker than
elastic conductive materials,[94] such as (1) graphene elastomeric the stiff element,[119] limiting the flexibility[111a] of the stretch-
composites:[95] graphenes in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)[96] able connector (since the bending rigidity is proportional to the
or well controlled graphene on PDMS substrates,[97] (2) carbon fourth order of magnitude of the thickness).[120] In addition,
nanotube elastic materials: SWNT elastic conductor,[98] MWNT/ local delamination of the stiff element from the compliant sub-
Ag composites in a polystyrene-polyisoprene-polystyrene strate,[94,120] caused by a high concentration of stresses in the
matrix,[99] and heavily-twisted carbon nanotube ropes,[100] (3) crest and the trough,[121] results in cohesive and adhesive frac-
organic elastomer-like conductor based on polyaniline (PANI) ture, leading to short circuits and limiting the stretchability.[109]
conducting polymer,[101] and (4) PEDOT:PSS/PDMS compos- The third type of connectors is based on elastic textile struc-
ites,[102] (5) (liquid) metal films or particles (e.g. eutectic gallium tures, some of which are known highly stretchable and three-
indium,[103] gold[104] or silver[105] in/on elastomeric membranes dimensionally deformable. Conductive metal wires have been
or fibers. Those organic elastic conductors normally have an integrated into woven fabrics to create textile circuits;[47d,122]
electric resistivity in the order of KΩ cm thus do not have suf- metal films have been deposited on nonwoven substrates for
ficient conductivity to work as elastic connecting wires in inte- stretchable interconnects. However, their maximum elonga-
grated circuits.[105] However, electric connectors with metal tion is limited within 20–30% strain due to the intrinsic geo-
composite can achieve the required conductivity. Noticeably, the metrical structures of woven[122] and nonwoven textiles. Unlike
conductivity of these composite materials often drops by several woven and nonwoven textiles, knitted fabrics interlace yarns in
orders with applied strains, even within 10%.[101] a series of connected loops, and the column and row directions
The second type of approaches makes stretchable connec- of the loop are referred to as wale and course, respectively.[123]
tors from established brittle and rigid inorganic materials[94,106] Many knitted fabrics, in comparison to woven and nonwoven
by structural conversion. Examples include (1) planar tor- fabrics, are much more stretchable (usually more than 100%
tuous wires on elastomeric substrates,[107] such as net-shaped strain) due to its looped configurations, thus suitable for inti-
structure,[96,108] and horseshoe patterns on polyurethane sub- mate or next-to-skin wearable electronic systems.
strate;[109] (2) controlled 3D coil (helical) spring of silicon NWs A benchmark analysis is presented for all the three types
(diameter: ∼30 nm) in PDMS substrate (thickness: ∼2 mm);[106] of electric connectors, their stretchability and corresponding
and (3) a series of out-of-planar controlled wrinkles,[110] such relative change in electrical resistance are summarized in
as fully bonded wavy shapes,[207] non coplanar “arc-shaped” Figure 5(a) and (b). The stretchability has been advanced by
mesh[208] and serpentine patterns,[111] of an ultrathin stiff single means of either structural conversion or new materials from
crystalline silicon on a compliant elastomeric substrate.[112] ∼3% (SiNW on PDMS substrate[124] to more than ∼400% (wrin-
Such connectors with precisely controlled buckles, created kled graphene on PDMS substrate.[97] The relative change in
either by the mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients[113] or electrical resistance, whereas, varies from ∼2.1% (Horseshoe
the pre-stretching and releasing the strain of the substrate,[114] pattern on PDMS substrate[125] to ∼7300% (Ag-MWNT-SIS
yield various stretchability by changing their wavelength and nano-composite film[99] with applied strain. This change in
amplitudes.[115] However, well controlled formation of the resistance may hinder their use as connectors for integrated
wrinkles, similar to those on human skins,[116] require a con- circuits, in particular, for a high-precision measurement pur-
siderable difference in Young’s modulus and thickness between pose.[105,126] In contrast, the 3D looped metal fibers in the
the stiff element (like dermis) and the compliant substrate knitted substrate have exhibited an extraordinarily electrical
(like epidermis).[4a,116,117] For an ultrathin single crystalline integrity with almost no change (0.25%) in electrical resistance
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Figure 5. Relative change in electric resistance of benchmark connectors plotted against strain: (a) The samples with normalized resistance from 0% to
8000%; (b) Enlarged one with normalized resistance within 100%. (1: Knitted connector;[127] 2: Horseshoe;[125] 3: CNT loop;[100] 4: PEDOT:PSS-PDMS;[102]
5: Ag-PDMS;[128] 6: SiNW-PDMS;[124] 7: AgNW-PDMS;[129] 8: Net-shaped;[108] 9: AgNW/PEDOT:PSS;[130] 10: Graphene-PDMS;[97] 11: Au-PDMS;[111c] 12:
Ag-Silicone fiber;[105] 13: Cu-woven;[5b] 14: Metal/elastomer fiber;[103] 15: SWNT-rubber;[131] 16: PANI:SEBS-g-MA/SEBS;[101] 17: AgNW-PUA;[132] 18: Ag-
MWNT-SIS.[99] The knitted connector exhibits the lowest change of 0.25% at the highest strain of 300%.
when uni-directionally stretched 300% in either course or wale pattern.[133] The reported low fatigue resistance with signifi-
direction and three-dimensionally punched by a ball with an cant change in electrical resistance may prevent them from
average strain of 150%.[127] wearable applications. In contrast, when subject to a cyclic uni-
For wearable electronics, the fatigue resistance of an elec- directional tensile test at a maximum fabric strain of 60% in the
tronic system is of vital importance. Here, the fatigue resist- course direction, the fabric connectors with 3D looped metal
ance refers to the ability to maintain its electronic functions and fibers in the knitted substrate maintain their electrical function
mechanical integrity in repeated loading-unloading cycles. For and mechanical integrity over 100,000 loading-unloading cycles
instance, 100,000 or 1 million such cycles are roughly equiva- up to 60% fabric strain, during which the electrical resistance
lent to continuous wear in active daily life for 10 or 100 days, remains almost unchanged (0.09%). This outstanding perfor-
respectively. Figure 6 plots the fatigue life at a certain strain mance is owing to the structural conversion, that is, the mitiga-
and its corresponding relative change in electrical resistance tion in the local strain of the metal fibers when they are inter-
of various previously reported works. The fatigue life varies laced with the porous elastic substrate, which has been experi-
from 50 cycles at 10% strain with electrical integrity (AgNWs mentally confirmed by Raman Spectroscope.[134]
in the PDMS substrate[129] to 25,000 cycles at 20% strain with
300% relative change in electrical resistance (micro-cracked
4.1.4. Fiber-Based Circuitry
Printed electronics using inkjets or classical

printing methods has considerable poten-
tial to deliver fabric circuitry. An alternative
technology is weaving of conductive fibers.
Figure 7 demonstrates some reported fiber-
based circuitry, such as logic circuits con-
structed from WECTs,[52,78a,52] textile inverters
made by weaving WECTs or fibers with TFT
stack on them,[78d,135] fabric-array memory
device.[136] Among them, due to the limita-
tions of WECTs, this type of fabric inverters
as well as logic circuits with a very long
switch time (15–18 seconds) by using Kevlar
multifilament with coatings of PEDOT:PSS
and BCB35, as well as electrolyte gel,[78d]
which limited them to quasi-static applica-
tions. The fabric inverters using TFT fibers
(SiNx coated Kapton fibers with amorphous
silicon TFTs fabricated on top)[135] have over-
Figure 6. Relative change in electric resistance of benchmark connectors plotted as a function
of strain and loading cycles in logarithmic scale (1: Knitted connector;[127] 2: Micro-crack;[133]
come this problem, as it adopts conventional
3: PANI:SEBS-g-MA/SEBS;[101] 4:Horseshoe;[125] 5: Net-shaped;[108] 6: AgNW-PUA;[132] 7: Ag- TFTs on fibers to obtain good performance.
PDMS;[128] 8: CNT loop;[100] 9: SWNT-rubber;[131] 10: Ag-MWNT-SIS;[99] 11: AgNW-PDMS.[129] The fiber-based memory uses a high tellu-
The knitted connector has the highest number of cycles (100,000) at the highest strain of 60%. rium-content chalcogenide glass (GGT and
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Figure 7. Fiber circuitry: (a) A binary tree multiplexer constructed from WECTs and their dynamic electrical characteristics, Reproduced with permis-
sion.[52] Copyright 2007, Nature Publishing Group. (b) A woven inverter circuit and its dynamic electrical characteristics, Reproduced with permis-
sion.[135] Copyright 2004, IEEE. (c) Fiber-based fabric-array memory device. Reproduced with permission.[136] Copyright 2011, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH
& Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
GAST glass fiber), contacted by metallic electrodes internal to of the fiber transistors, which is also the bottleneck of organic
the fiber structure to achieve a difference with four orders of electronics.[80] New fibrous materials with high mobility are
magnitudes between its on and off states, while it demonstrated worthwhile for search and study. 2) As the essential conduc-
a temperature dependence of the threshold voltage.[136] Fabric tive parts of the fabric antenna, wearable electric connectors
circuitry has advantages of better integration within textiles for and supercapacitors, the flexibility and stretchablity of the
a wide range of wearable applications. However, its develop- present highly conductive fibers and fabrics are still far below
ment depends on innovations of fiber electrical components the requirements of wearable large-scale E-textile circuits. The
especially fiber transistors, and technologies of integrating recent developed graphene fibers,[137] PEDOT:PSS fibers[138]
E-textile or conventional components onto fibers and fabrics. and others may have potentials to address this problem.
The major challenge of the fabric circuitry is the lack of Another challenge is relevant to the packaging, integration and
basic fiber electronic element with stable performance and out- connection of E-textile components with other fabric and elec-
standing flexibility due to the following two reasons. 1) The low tronic parts. These packages and connections should be flexible
carrier mobility of organic materials limits the development as well as robust, which can sustain the friction, deformation
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Table 3. Summary of fiber-based strain sensor.
Key material Transduction technique/Modulation Advantage Disadvantage

parameter
PPy[140a–c] Resistive/Resistance Excellent sensitivity Stability
Softness Durability
Large strain measuring range Hysteresis
Pt nanofibers[140k] Excellent sensitivity Limited flexibility
Shear force detection Durability
Pressure detection Coupling of pressure, shear and torsion
Torsion detection
Carbon fibers[140j] High temperature working range Temperature sensitive
Strain rate effect
CNT[140d,e] Piezoresistive/Resistance Good sensitivity Toxicity
Softness and compliance Potential hazards
Robust and chemically resistance Hystersis
CP composite[6b,54,140f–i,209a] Good sensitivity Strain rate effect
Softness and compliance Hysteresis
Robust and chemically resistance
Excellent stability
Repeatability
Low cost
and environmental change during the assemblage and daily or spun into yarns[140e] for strain sensing purpose. Cotton
wearing. However in many practical applications, failure of fabrics coated with CNT can also work as gas sensors.[140d]
these package and connections has been reported, like cracking However, for CNT including both single wall carbon nano-
of fiber electronics resulting from poor elongation and bending tubes and multiwall carbon nanotubes, the pulmonary tox-
properties,[80] or connection failure in harsh environments.[139] icity poses potential occupational and environmental health
To go further, the e-textile connectors are expected to provide risks when used in soft wearable devices.[147] Non-conductive
both robust mechanical and electrical connections, to enhance elastomers doped with conductive fillers also exhibit piezore-
the overall robustness of the fiber based electronics. sistivity. Therefore, composites of carbon particles (CP) and
thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) were printed onto woven[140f ]
and knitted fabrics[140g,146] for strain measurement. CP/TPE
4.2. Sensors and Sensing Networks composites fabric strain sensors can measure a strain of 80%
after being washed several times in conventional washing
Among all fiber-based electronic technologies, the most mature machines.[140g] Most of the above sensors suffer from dete-
and successful one is the fabric-based sensors, many of which rioration in performance after a prolonged period of wearing
have been not only demonstrated as prototypes reported in or repeated cycles of tensile deformation. It is worth noting
papers but also widely used in real applications of wearable that, to date, the most mature fabric strain sensors in terms
sensing and personal protection. Fiber-based sensors include of a balanced sensitivity and durability, are stable (repeat-
strain sensors,[6b,54,140] pressure sensors,[6b,21,142h,209] chemical ability ±5% FSO, full-scale output) in measuring strains up
sensors,[141] as well as optical and humidity sensors[142] etc. to 50% even after 100 000 loading cycles.[6b] These sensors,
Table 3–5 presents a comparison of typical fiber-based sensing which have a coating of composites comprising CP, PDMS
techniques, and the typical fiber based sensor and sensing net- and silicone oil on a knitted fabric,[54] have been deployed in
works present in Figure 8. the development of fabric pressure sensors[6b,140h] and fur-
Fibers or fibrous materials may acquire their sensing capa- ther i-Shoe,[140i] a foot pressure mapping system which can
bility via conductive materials printed onto fibers or fabrics. give spatial and temporal plantar pressure distributions in
These conductive materials include polypyrrole (PPy), CNT, most daily activities. The type of strain sensors has a strong
CP, etc. PPy was first printed onto Lycra/cotton fabrics and strain rate effect thus the gauge factor needs to be experimen-
resistive fabric strain sensors were made,[140a,b] which could tally corrected when they are used in medium to high-speed
realize the detection of human body posture and gesture. dynamic measurement. Lastly, fabric strain gauges made
Improved PPy fabric strain sensors can have a gauge factor from carbon fibers or metal fibers can measure large strains
∼80 for a strain of 50%.[140c] Nevertheless, they suffer from under high temperatures.[140j] Also, highly sensitive strain
poor stability and durability. Carbon nanotubes, due to its sensor can be made using two interlocked arrays of high-
piezoresistivity, can either be printed onto cotton fabrics[140d] aspect-ratio Pt-coated polymeric nanofibres supported on
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Table 4. Summary of fiber-based pressure sensor.
Key material Transduction technique/ Advantage Disadvantage

Modulation parameter
CP composites[6b,54,140h] Piezoresistive/Resistance Good sensitivity Hysteresis of composite material
Softness and compliance Restricted to pressure sensing
Robust and chemically resistance Strain rate dependent
Durability
Repeatability
Tunable measuring ranges
Low cost
CNT[209c–e] Good sensitivity Toxicity
Softness and compliance Potential hazards
Robust and chemically resistance Hysteresis
Tunable measuring ranges
PVDF, P(VDF-TrFe)[209f,209g] Piezoelectric/Voltage Ultrahigh sensitivity Detect dynamic pressure only
Well suited for dynamic applications Not suitable for static applications
Mechanically flexible Charge amplifier required
Thin films and low weights possible Not stretchable
Robust and chemical resistance
Optical fibers[209h] Optical/Light intensity Facile fabrication Bulky in size
Large area application possible Signal attenuation due to bending
Flexibility and durability
Immune to electromagnetic interference
Fiber Bragg gratings[143,209i,209j] Optical/Wavelength Excellent sensitivity Bulky in size
Normal and shear force detection Signal attenuation due to bending
Large area application possible
Flexibility and durability
Low cost
Immunity to electromagnetic interference
thin PDMS layers.[140k] This type of sensor can detect strain, fabrics between them. With a pressure measuring range
pressure, shear and torsion. Its flexibility and durability as a from 0 to 100 kPa, they can be used to detect muscle
sensor, however, are limited. activity[209a] and sitting posture.[21] There are also fabric sen-
Similarly, fiber-based pressure sensors deployed various sors by measuring the capacitance at the crossed points of
transduction techniques including capacitive,[21,209a,209b] warp and weft conductive yarns.[209b] Apart from the parasitic
piezoresistive,[6b,140h,148,209c–e] piezoelectric[209f,209g] and optical capacitance and cross-talk between sensor units, these capac-
types.[209h] Capacitive fabric pressure sensors comprise itive sensors always require complex reading out circuitry.
embroidered electrodes from conductive yarns and spacer Piezoresistivity of CNT has also been widely deployed in
Table 5. Summary of fiber-based chemical and optical sensor.
Sensor type Key material Transduction technique/ Advantage Disadvantage

Modulation parameter
Chemical sensor PPy[141c–f ] Resistive/Resistance Good sensitivity Toxicity
Flexibility and durability Potential hazards
Large area application possible
CNT[141g] Piezoresistive/Resistance Flexibility and durability Bulky in size
Optical fibers[141h] Optical/Vertebrae olfactory Immunity to electromagnetic interference Signal attenuation due to bending
Optical sensor Fiber Bragg gratings[142] Optical/Wavelength Flexibility and durability Bulky in size
Immunity to electromagnetic interference Signal attenuation due to bending
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Figure 8. Fiber-based sensors: (a) Fabric bio-potential electrode and its SEM photo, Reproduced with permission.[144] Copyright 2010, IEEE. (b) Pulse-
driven fiber nanogenerator by ZnO thin films grown around a carbon fiber as a strain sensor, Reproduced with permission.[6a] Copyright 2011, WILEY-
VCHVerlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. (c)Vibration sensor arrays of piezoelectric fibers in gloves for detection and suppression of Parkinson’s
tremor in the hand, Reproduced with permission.[145] Copyright 2009, Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Society. (d) Carbon loaded elastomer
sensorized garment for kinesthetic monitoring, Reproduced with permission.[146] Copyright 2011, Cambridge University Press. (e) Strain-gauge sensor
based on the reversible interlocking of Pt-coated polymer nanofibres, Reproduced with permission.[140k] Copyright 2012, Nature Publishing Group.
(f) Carbon nanotube strain sensor for human motion detection, Reproduced with permission.[20c] Copyright 2011, Nature Publishing Group. (g)Woven
electronic fibers with sensing and display functions, Reproduced with permission.[5b] Copyright 2010, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Wein-
heim. (h) In-shoe plantar pressure monitoring in daily activities by fabric pressure sensors. Reproduced with permission.[140i] Copyright 2010, IEEE.
pressure sensors regardless of the toxicity or potential haz- poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene), or P(VDF-TrFe),

ards.[147] CNT has been imbedded into polymer bumps[209c] has pushed fiber-based pressure sensors to an extreme: a
or membranes,[148,209d,209e] for pressure measurement. Elastic minute pressure of 0.1 Pa can be detected.[209g] Such super-
films with CNT[209e] can be both stretchable and optically sensitive pressure sensor is based on highly aligned arrays
transparent, and can behave both as strain and pressure sen- of electrospun nanofibers of PVDF. The preferentially ori-
sors, which may help to realize artificial skins. CNT pressure entated nanofibers of polymer chains of P(VDF-TrFe) were
sensors can achieve an ultrahigh sensitivity: when uniform electro-spun with a sub-cm collector disk rotating at 4000
silk molded PDMS films and SWNT ultrathin films are com- r.p.m. Such high orientation of nanofibers offers exceptional
bined,[148] the sensors have demonstrated sensitivity of 1.80 piezoelectric characteristics. The other extreme of fiber-
kPa−1, low detectable pressure limit at 0.6 Pa, fast response based pressure sensors is towards high pressure measure-
time within 10 ms, as well as excellent stability over 67 500 ment. One typical example is a resistive pressure sensor
cycles for minute pressure detection. Piezoelectricity of Poly- with a fabric strain sensor mounted on a PDMS cylinder.[140h]
vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has also been utilized in pressure This kind of pressure sensor merits a large workable pres-
sensing.[209f,209g] PVDF nanofibers are electro-spun into PVDF sure range of 0–8 MPa, a high sensitivity at 1 MPa−1 and an
fabrics for force measurement.[209f ] Another device using excellent repeatability (lowest non-repeatability 2.4% from
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0.8 to 8 MPa), which make it possible to measure pressure 4.3. Wearable Energy Harvesting and Storage
on soft materials in medium speed impact such as car colli-
sion. Currently the strain rate effect of such pressure sensor is Future generations of wearable electronic systems place a great
being under investigation as discussed in previous fabric strain demand for harvesting energy from the ambient environment
sensor section. Optical pressure sensors work by detecting or human movement rather than relying on a rechargeable bat-
light intensity[209h] or use the modulation of wavelength to tery power supply.[36] Harvesting energy from environments or
detect pressure.[143,209i,209j] One recent example of this type is human movement is both attractive and technically feasible for
a soft fiber optic tactile sensor based on polymer fiber Bragg wearable electronics. There are vast bodies of reported work
gratings,[209j] in which two polymer optical fibers (one hori- on this topic. However, only recently, more sophisticated fiber-
zontal and one tilted) are imbedded in a PDMS cube. Sensitivi- based energy conversion and storage units have been reported.
ties for normal and shear stress pressures are 0.8 pm/Pa and
1.3 pm/Pa, and the full range is 2.4 kPa and 0.6 kPa respec-
tively. This optical fiber pressure sensors merit high precision 4.3.1. Wearable Energy Convertors
within a low pressure range and MRI immunity. But the light
souse and detecting device are complicated and costly when Solar, mechanical and thermal energy can be scavenged from
compared with the resistive fiber-based pressure sensors. the environment using devices that were fabricated using flex-
Apart from strain and pressure sensors, fiber-based materials ible fiber or textile materials. For example, metal such as copper
can also function as chemical sensors using PPy,[141a,b] carbon and steel or polymer fibers coated with a conductive layer of
nanotubes[141c–f ] or photonic methods.[141g,h] PPy and CNT have ITO are usually used as the fiber-shaped photovoltaic device.[149]
been printed onto fibers or yarns,[141a,b,d,e] electrospun,[141c] or Zou et al. used a titanium fiber to prepare a fiber-shaped solar
mixed into polyurethane[141f ] for chemical sensing including cell, the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the fiber-shaped
chloroform, THF, ether, NH3, glucose, albumin. An ideal solar cell can increased to 5.41% as compared with that made
chemical sensor is sensitive to one particular chemical and from a stainless steel fiber.[150] However, the performances of
immune or at least less sensitive to the others. However, many photovoltaic devices are much lower than expected due to the
of the above sensors are sensitive to several chemical stimuli limited flexibility and low stability of electrodes.[151] Thus new
including humidity rather than one specific chemical, which fiber electrode materials are highly desired to improve the per-
poses great difficulty in real application. formance of fiber-based photovoltaic device. Recently, a supe-
Fabric sensing arrays and networks especially resistive rior performance of the CNTs fiber-based solar cells have been
ones, usually use readout and processing approaches with the reported[28c,149a,b,151,152] by twisted fiber-like electrodes have
assistance of transistors and multiplexors, or through elec- been used for harvesting solar energy as shown in Figure 9.
trical impedance tomography.[46a,141b] This inevitably induces a Significantly, Fe3O4 Fe3O4/CNT composite fiber based photo-
noticeable complexity in circuits and operations, especially for voltaic device exhibits a record energy conversion efficiency of
large-scale sensor arrays and networks, because they require 8.03% in fiber-shaped devices.[152c] These fiber-based devices
considerable numbers of additional electrical components are three dimensionally deformable, while thin-film based ones
(transistors, diodes, multiplexers, switches, op-amps, current can drape in one direction. Furthermore they have a much
sources, A/D converters, etc.), and a large number of signal higher level of damage tolerance and fatigue resistance than
processing cycles. On the other hand, measurement errors will those made from thin films. Further, these photovoltaic wires
be enlarged if there are crosstalk currents, unexpected resist- can be easily integrated into textiles or other deformable struc-
ances and leakages of additional electrical components, or tures through a conventional weaving technique for making
mechanical crosstalk interferences. Currently, the bottleneck flexible, scalable, large-area power supply electronics in the
lies in the high energy consumption in supporting hundreds form of woven fabrics or mats.
or thousands of sensors, signal transmissions and the back-end Apart from batteries and photovoltaic devices, an alternative
signal processing. route is to convert mechanical energy from human movement
Figure 9. Dye-sensitized photovoltaic wires based on CNT fiber. Reproduced with permission.[152f ] Copyright 2013, ACS.
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remarkable with triboelectric nanogenerator’s area power

density jumped from 3.67 mW/m2 to 313 W/m2 as shown in
Figure 11, almost five order’s magnitude. The future certainly
looks very bright.
Due to the low frequency of mechanical energy in human
motion, an electric generator should possess the capability
to harvest energy at low frequencies (<10 Hz).[164] Piezo-
electric effect is another feasible method to convert energy
from vibration and human motion. Earlier work reported by
Shenck, etc. presented a shoe mounted piezoelectric gen-
erator using PZT and PVDF film[165] is inflexible and diffi-
cult to be integrated in shoe as a wearable device. At a low
frequency motion, the energy stored Ec can be expressed as
follow.[166]
∂ε jk
Ec = dijkσ jk + μijkl (i, j , k , l = 1,2,3)
∂ χl
The first term on the right-hand side refers to the piezoelec-

tric effect, where σ jk is the stress uniformly distributed across
the material and dijk is the piezoelectric coefficient tensor. The
Figure 10. Available power for everyday bodily activities of human second term on the right-hand side refers to the flexoelectric
being.[153] ( )
effect, i.e., the strain gradient ∂∂εχjkl induced polarization and
μijkl is the flexoelectric coefficient tensor. In many cases, the
(such as body movement, muscle stretching, blood pressure) or flexoelectric effect is small thus can be ignored. However, in a
vibration into electric energy, which may be sufficient for self- flexible device, apart from piezoelectric materials, equal atten-
powering nano-devices and nano-systems ranging from bio- tion should be placed upon structural design of the wearable
medical sensors, nanorobots, micro-electromechanical systems generators in which the significant flexoelectric effect can be
(MEMS), and even small personal electronics (Figure 10).[153] utilized or eliminated.
The synergy between nanotechnology and soft polymeric To utilize the direct piezoelectric effect, three major types
materials has yielded drastic advancements in nanogenera- of nanostructure piezoelectric materials have been investi-
tors, which are mainly related to piezoelectric and triboelectric gated:(1) nano-scaled semiconductor piezoelectric materials,
effects. By the end of 2013, the maximum areal density of har- including Zinc oxide,[167] cadmium sulfide, zinc sulfide (ZnS),
vested energy has reached 0.78 W/cm2 for piezoelectric nano- gallium nitride(GaN)[168] and indium nitride;[169] (2) perovskite
generators and 313 W/m2 for triboelectric nanogenerators. structured piezoelectric nano-sized materials, such as lead
Figure 10 shows the available power associated with everyday zirconate titanate(PZT),[206] potassium niobate,[170] sodium
activities for a 150 lb (68 kg) adult, most of which are lost in the niobate[171] and barium titanate;[172] and (3) piezoelectric poly-
forms of heat and vibrations. They can be recovered for gener- mers, e.g. Polyvinylidene Fluoride(PVDF).[167i,173] Traditional
ating electric power. For example, the heel strike from walking piezoelectric semiconductor and ceramic material is rigid
is a particularly rich source with 67 W of power available from and hardly used as mechanical energy harvesting materials.
a brisk walker. Harvesting even 1–5% of that power would be In order to overcome this limitation, flexible devices are fabri-
sufficient to run many body-worn devices.[154] cated based on PZT nanofibers on flexible substrate(textile,[174]
Triboelectric effect, also known as contact electrification or paper,[167t,175] plastic film) or packaged with flexible polymers,
triboelectric charging is a contact-induced electrification and such as Polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS).[171,176]
the surfaces will be charged electrically when two materials get However, the fatigue life of energy converters is particularly
in contact or rub against each other according to triboelectric important for long term application such as wearable elec-
series with different relative polarity.[155] Triboelectric effect tronics. Thus, soft polymeric piezoelectric materials such as
depends on not only the bulk materials, but also the upmost PVDF and its copolymer is naturally flexible, biocompatible,
layer of the film surface,[156] which can increase the contact lightweight and suitable for energy harvesting. Apart from
area and surface charge density of the device, respectively. In the brittleness of the materials, electrodes used conventional
order to enhance the power output performance, materials, ones with little compliance to deformation, such as metal or
such as micro-patterned PDMS film, PTFE film and micro-pat- metal oxide coated electrodes, e.g., gold, silver, aluminum, and
tern Al layer, with the largest difference in the ability to attract ITO. During deformation, the interfacial shear stress causes
electrons, modification of surface morphology and device delamination of the sandwich layers because of mismatch of
structures with a high separation and contacting rate were modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the electrode and active layers.
explored in nanogenerator based on metal-insulator contact The devices lost mechanical integrity and electric connectivity
electrification. and fail quickly in repeated large deformation thus not suitable
Although there is just over one year since the first tri- for wearable applications. Additionally, the conductivity and
boelectric nanogenerator reported, the progress has been contact area of electrodes also influence the power generation
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Figure 11. A summary on the power density of various triboelectric nanogenerators. Images reproduced with permission: “Flexibletriboelectric nano-
generator,”[157] Copyright, 2012, Elsevier. Reproduced with permission: “Letter Transparent Triboelectric Nanogenerators and Self-Powered Pressure
Sensors Based on Micropatterned Plastic Films,”[158] “Triboelectric-Generator-Driven Pulse Electrodeposition for Micropatterning”,[159] “Toward Large-
Scale Energy Harvesting by a Nanoparticle-Enhanced Triboelectric Nanogenerator”,[156c] “Integrated Multilayered Triboelectric Nanogenerator for
Harvesting Biomechanical Energy from Human Motions”,[160] “Segmentally Structured Disk Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Harvesting Rotational
Mechanical Energy”,[161] “Single-Electrode-Based Sliding Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Self-Powered Displacement Vector Sensor System”,[162] “Har-
vesting Energy from the Natural Vibration of Human Walking”,[163] Copyright, respectively, 2012, 2012, 2013, 2013, 2013, 2013, 2013, 2013. American
Chemical Society.
according to the equation mentioned above due to the enhance- as Bi2Te3 and SiGe are unsuitable because these thermoelec-
ment of the strain gradient. In order to enhance the power tric generators are composed of thermocouples on a rigid sub-
output and fatigue life, all-fiber based flexible, soft and wearable strate.[182] On the other hand, flexible thermoelectric generator
piezoelectric energy convertor consisting of a PVDF–NaNbO3 transducer the human body heat efficiently if the flexible ther-
nanofiber and elastic conducting knitted fabrics electrodes moelectric generator can be tightly attached on the skin. Several
made from segmented polyurethane and silver coated poly- studies have implemented flexible thermoelectric generators,
amide multifilament yarns is proposed shown in Figure 1. and the techniques require a complicated and precise photo-
The fabric electrodes act as dual roles: (1) it works as a normal lithography fabrication process.[183] Following these previous
charge collection network as well as (2) a mechanical element studies, fiber-based thermoelectric power generators fabricated
that transfers the uniform compressive pressure on the device by evaporating thin Ni-Ag films on flexible fiber substrates have
into localized deformation in the piezoelectric nonwoven. The been demonstrated with an open circuit voltage of 19.6 µV/K
front side of the fabric serves as connecting side with PVDF and a maximum power of 2 nW, and the unique architecture
and can maximize the contact area of the fabric electrode which of fiber-based thermoelectric generator is promising for the
may improve flexoelectric effects due to the induced local- future development of flexible and wearable electronics. Semi-
ized strain gradients. Remarkably, the all-fiber nanogenerator conductor NWs have been investigated as promising thermo-
remains working after applying more than 1,000,000 cycles electric materials, among these semiconductor NWs, silicon
external force.[45] NWs exhibit interesting and promising thermoelectric proper-
Since 2006 the accumulation of considerable reasearch ties. By integrating material design with advanced fabrication
efforts led to a quantum jump iin performance in 2012 of soft techniques, the fiber-based thermoelectric generator can serve
and flexible nanogenerators made from piezoelectric mate- as one of the sources for powering small electronic systems by
rials, and the trend will continue, as demonstrated in Figure 12 directly converting dissipated heat from the human body into
evidently. electricity.
Thermoelectric energy harvesting from human body has Several challenges must be met before the realization of
advantages that heat is steady and large. However, from the wearable fiber-based energy harvesting devices. Enhancement
viewpoint of the curvature of the human body, typical thermo- must be made for the overall power conversion efficiency for
electric generator fabricated from rigid semiconductors such real applications, which has three components: (1) the internal
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633
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Figure 12. A summary on the development of piezoelectric nanogenerators since 2006. Images reproduced with permission: “PiezoelectricNanogen-
erators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays,”[167a] Copyright, 2006, The American Association for the Advancement of Science. Reproduced with
permission: “Nanowire Piezoelectric Nanogenerators on Plastic Substrates as Flexible Power Sources for Nanodevices,”[177] “Flexible and Large-Area
Nanocomposite Generators Based on Lead Zirconate Titanate Particles and Carbon Nanotube”,[176] Copyright, respectively, 2007, 2013, WILEY-VCH
Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim,“Integrated Multilayer Nanogenerator Fabricated Using Paired Nanotip-to-Nanowire Brushes,”[178] “Converting
Biomechanical Energy into Electricity by a Muscle-Movement-Driven Nanogenerator,”[179] “Flexible High-Output Nanogenerator Based on Lateral ZnO
Nanowire Array,”[167I] “Self-Powered System with Wireless Data Transmission,”[180] “Flexible Fiber Nanogenerator with 209 V Output Voltage Directly
Powers a Light-Emitting Diode,”[181] “Functional Electrical Stimulation by Nanogenerator with 58 V Output Voltage”,[167u] Copyright, respectively, 2008,
2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. American Chemical Society.
conversion efficiency of the active materials, (2) the efficiency fiber-based SCs or SCs, also named electrochemical capacitors.
related to the device, that is, the ability to collect and transfer It is comparatively more attractive against batteries, owing to its
electric charges, (3) the efficiency determined by the harvesting distinctive features, including fast charge/discharge rate (in sec-
circuit and storage. One can further enhance the total power by onds), high power density, and stable cycling life.[4d,e,31b,67,185,191]
using arrays or networks of nanogenerators, and durability is According to their working principles, they can be divided
also a major issue in addition to comfort in wear. into three types: double-layer capacitors, pseudocapacitors and
hybrid capacitors. They employ electrolytes instead of dielectric
materials in capacitors.
4.3.2. Wearable Energy Storage Similar to the conventional SC systems, the fiber-based SCs
are composed of at least three elements, including two sym-
The development in high-performance wearable electronics metric or asymmetric electrodes, an aqueous/solid electrolyte
places a great demand of lightweight and flexible power source or/and a separator layer.[185,191b,185] The fiber-based SCs can be
and storage devices, without which usage of many electronic grouped into three types according to their structures. Figure 13
devices will be limited in truly wearable systems, such as wear- illustrates members of the first type, that has a one-dimen-
able displays, embedded sensor and sensing networks, elec- sional fiber shape and comprises two fibers[192] in: (1) parallel
tronic newspapers, paper-like mobile phones, and so on.[184] pattern,[4d,e] for instance, a cable SC made from two parallel
At present, lithium-ion batteries or SCs[4e,185] are under inten- three-dimensional PPy-MnO2-CNT-cotton threads (a);[4d] one
sive investigations. Fiber batteries were explored in different packaged by placing two parallel fiber electrodes (composed of a
forms, such as a cable type composed of several electrode conductive fibrous substrate and electrochemically active mate-
(generally anode) strands coiled into a hollow-spiral (helical) rials) into a flexible plastic tube filled with electrolyte and a well
core and surrounded by a tubular outer electrode (cathode);[186] designed helical spacer wire (b);[4e] (2) twisted (or intertwined)
a flexible one with a film electrode by anchoring TiO2(B) pattern,[31b,185,193] like a two-ply yarn SC based on carbon nano-
nanosheets on non-woven active carbon fabric (ACF);[187] one tubes and polyaniline NW arrays (c);[185] a wire-shaped SC by
with Li4TiO12 nanosheet film electrode;[188] a stretchable bat- twisting two aligned MWCNT/OMC composite fibers as elec-
tery electrode based on buckled PPy;[189] and a wire-shaped trodes (d);[193] a wire-shaped SC fabricated from two intertwined
one made by twisted, aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube GF@3D-Gs with polyelectrolyte (e);[31b] (3) wrapped pattern,
(MWCNT)/Si composite fiber anodes with a specific capacity of including a SC by entangling a plastic wire covered with NWs
1670 mAh/g.[190] In this article, more attention is paid on the around a Kevlar fiber covered with gold-coated NWs (f);[67]
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Figure 13. Single fiber-type SCs. Parallel pattern: (a) a cable SC based on two parallel three-dimensional PPy-MnO2-CNT-cotton threads, Repro-
duced with permission.[4d] Copyright 2013, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, and (b) one packaged by placing two parallel fiber
electrodes into a flexible plastic tube filled with electrolyte and a well designed helical spacer wire; Reproduced with permission.[4e] Copyright 2012,
WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH& Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Twisted pattern: (c) a two-ply yarn SC based on carbon nanotubes and polyaniline NW arrays,
Reproduced with permission.[185] Copyright 2013, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. (d) a wire-shaped SC by twisting two aligned
MWCNT/OMC composite fibers, Reproduced with permission.[193] Copyright 2013, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH& Co. KGaA, Weinheim. and (e) a
wire-shaped SC fabricated from two twined GF@3D-Gs with polyelectrolyte; Reproduced with permission.[31b] Copyright 2013, WILEY-VCH Verlag
GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Wrapped pattern: (f) a fiber-based electrochemical capacitor by entangling a plastic wire covered with NWs around
a Kevlar fiber covered with gold-coated NWs; Reproduced with permission.[67] Copyright 2011, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Coaxial configuration: (g) a fiber-shaped SC by wrapping aligned CNT sheets on an elastic fiber, Reproduced with permission.[194] Copyright 2013,
WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. and (h) a coaxial EDLC fiber. Reproduced with permission.[195] Copyright 2013, WILEY-VCH Verlag
GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
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Figure 14. Fabric-type SCs: (a) a textile double-layered SC by screen printing an activated carbon paint onto a custom knitted fabric of carbon fibers as
the current collector; Reproduced with permission.[31c] Copyright 2013, RSC. (b) an asymmetric SC based on Co9S8 nanorod arrays as positive materials
and Co3O4@RuO2 nanosheet arrays as negative materials on woven carbon fabrics; Reproduced with permission.[191c] Copyright 2013, ACS. (c) multi-
layer graphene/porous carbon woven fabric film using nickel wire meshes as electrode; Reproduced with permission.[197] Copyright 2013, WILEY-VCH
Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. (d) reduced graphene oxide/manganese dioxide paper electrode; Reproduced with permission.[191d] Copyright
2013, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. (e) direct conversion of cotton T-shirt textile into activated carbon textiles as electrode.
Reproduced with permission.[196] Copyright 2012, WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
and (4) coaxial configuration, such as a SC made by wrapping achieved.[195] However, several critical issues exist in such
aligned CNT sheets on an elastic fiber as two electrodes (g);[194] single fiber-type SCs. The first issue is to raise areal capaci-
and an Electric Double-Layer Capacitor (EDLC) with a coaxial tance. Their typical areal capacitance has been advanced from
fiber structure (h).[195] ∼1 mF/cm2 to ∼40mF/cm2 through the improvement in the
The second type of fiber-based SCs is in fabric form, efficient specific area by various approaches, for instance, the
as shown in Figure 14, constructed either by coating two- involvement of conductive NW arrays on the core fibers or the
dimensional substrates, including woven, knitting or paper, opened edges of the electrode,[191] to facilitate the ionic trans-
with functional thin coating layers or by modifying the fibers port.[185,193] The further enhancement in the capacitance, how-
with chemicals,[196] consisting of (a) a textile EDLC by screen ever, might be more challenging due to the linear configuration
printing an activated carbon paint onto a custom knitted of the fiber (or yarn) electrode, which significantly weakens the
carbon fiber cloth as the current collector;[31c] b) an asym- charge transport ability in the electrode and limits the diffusion
metric SC made from Co9S8 nanorod arrays as positive mate- of electrolyte ions to the electrode.[4d,184,184a,193] Secondly, it was
rials and Co3O4@RuO2 nanosheet arrays as negative materials reported that the capacitance of some fiber-type SC decreases
on woven carbon fabrics;[191c] (c) multi-layer graphene/porous by more than 10% with limited charge/discharge cycles due
carbon woven fabric film using nickel wire meshes as elec- to the induced mechanical stress between the electrode and
trode;[197] (d) reduced graphene oxide/manganese dioxide paper electrolyte.[184,193] Thirdly, although the single wire-based SCs
electrode;[191d] (e) direct conversion of cotton T-shirt textile into can be bent in principle, their electrochemical performance is
activated carbon textiles as electrode[196] (e). The third type is affected by stress and number of bending cycles since cracks
thin film[198] with flexible and soft substrates such as PET and may occur with the presence of inorganic electrode materials
PDMS,[191b] which can be laminated onto textiles or used as (e.g., ZnO) and the weak adhesion between the electrode and
stand-alone devices. electrolyte.[4d,e,185,192] The understanding and proper design of
The most distinctive nature of the single fiber-type SCs, as fiber hierarchy structures and interfacial properties will play
shown in Figure 13, is their comparatively superior mechan- a key role to reduce the interface shear stress and occurrence
ical flexibility, with the potential to be woven or knitted into of crack/delamination as well as crack propagation. Among
breathable textile structures alone or together with other different structural patterns of the single fiber-type SCs, the
devices.[4d,e,67,185,193] At present, the fiber-type SCs have coaxial configuration may yield a higher electrochemical per-
been integrated in woven fabrics by using existing weaving formance owing to the rapid ionic transportation with lower
technology.[31b] Particularly, a single fiber SC made by wrap- contact resistance between two electrodes.[195] It was recently
ping aligned CNT sheets on an elastic fiber serve as two demonstrated that a coaxial EDLC fiber achieved a discharge
electrodes (Figure 13(g)) maintains its specific capacitance of capacitance of 59 F g−1, much higher than 4.5 F g−1 of the
∼18 F g−1 after being stretched by 75% for 100 cycles;[194] and EDLC by twisting two CNT fiber together. Additionally, the
a coaxial EDLC fiber with a maximum discharge capacitance coaxial SCs are easier to be bent and stretched in the weaving
of 59 F g−1 and a mechanical strain of 100% has been recently or knitting processes, while the twisted fiber electrodes may
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633
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easily separate from each other during the bending, and break energy harvesters and storage devices. Their applications are
during the use as they were not stretchable.[199] described regarding healthcare, sport, personal protection etc.
Fabric-based SCs, as illustrated in Figure 14, are porous, Despite of such significant advancements in fiber based
mechanically flexible, and highly conductive with high acces- wearable electronics, most of the reported prototypes are far
sible surface areas.[196] Thus, their electrochemical performance way from fulfilling their final application requirements. It is of
is comparatively superior than that of the single-fiber SCs due great necessity to address the critical issues and future work for
to the enhanced diffusion of the electrolyte ions in 3D porous the fiber-based wearable electronics, which places a demand for
structure and lower internal resistance.[191,196] Superior perfor- high performance in terms of electronic functions, structural
mance of the fabric-based SCs has been reported including and functional integrity and stability during use, deformability
high specific capacitance, good charge/discharge stability, long- together with comfort of the users.
term cycling life, high energy density, and high power density. With respect to materials or fiber electrodes, the fiber-based
However, their capacitance loss is indispensible and cannot be wearable electronics should be fabricated from highly biocom-
neglected in the bending or stretching modes, due to the loos- patible and safe materials, which will not impose any threats
ening and even delamination in the interface of the electrolyte to the human being or environment. However, such concerns
and electrodes.[31c] may arise on some materials, such as CNTs or metal ions, to
It is highly desirable to integrate the energy conver- be used in soft and flexible wearable electronics directly next
sion and storage functions together in one single device to human skin. Suitable materials and newly designed fabrica-
made from fibers or fabrics. In this way, a well balanced tion technology for fiber-based electronics are urgently needed
and comprehensive plan can guide the overall design of to achieve the same or even better performance of the current
the device architecture, selection of materials and fibrous conventional fibers.
structures, impedance matching between the converter Fiber-based wearable electronic components have been
and storage, and meet the overall requirements of perfor- demonstrated, including transistors, antenna, connector, and
mance of the integrated devices. Currently, examples of a circuitry, sensors and sensing networks, as well as wearable
combined device, with one energy conversion segment and energy harvesting and storage devices. Although the demon-
one energy storage segment, include a modified polymethyl strated prototypes of discrete fiber-based electronics show good
methacrylate fiber with a dye-sensitized solar cell and a promise, they are still far below, perhaps never reach, the same
SC whose energy-conversion efficiency was 0.02%;[200] level of the performance requirements for modern, super large-
an energy wire with photoelectric conversion and energy scale integrated circuits. Furthermore, the surface roughness of
storage whose overall photoelectric conversion and storage fibers or fiber assemblies are in the order of microns, too high
efficiency reached 1.5%;[201] a single fiber with the func- to be used by the traditional integrated circuit technology.
tions of photovoltaic conversion and energy storage;[199] a Compared with conventional silicon-based or thin-film-
new graphene/CNT composite fiber with a dye-sensitized based electronic devices, fiber-based devices are involved with
solar cell and a fiber SC; [202] a novel fiber by coaxially (1) multiple materials with vast difference (often several orders
integrating dye-sensitized solar cell and electrochemical of magnitude) in mechanical, thermal or electric properties, and
capacitor;[203] an integrated power fiber incorporating a dye- (2) multiple scales of three dimensional structures from nano-,
sensitized solar cell and a SC with an overall energy con- micro-, meso- then macro-scales. The issues have a common
version efficiency of 2.1%.[204] Although the energy conver- feature of multiple disciplines concerning electronics, mate-
sion efficiency still needs to be improved, such integrated rials, solid mechanics, surface chemistry and thermodynamics
format may advance the fiber-shaped energy conversion etc. Thus, scientific understanding and proper design of fiber
and storage devices.[205] hierarchy structures and interfacial properties will play a role
to reduce the interface shear stress and occurrence of crack/
delamination as well as crack propagation. Most reported works
5. Conclusion have focused on the materials and fabrication of individual
novel devices and their potential applications, however, up to
In this paper, a critical review has been presented on the cur- date, there has been few systematic fundamental studies in the
rent state-of-arts of fiber-based wearable electronics. Several literature on the highly complex fiber-based electronic devices
aspects have been covered. The performance requirements of and systems. Most of the involved mechanisms remain elusive.
fiber-based devices and systems are presented in light of the Design tools for such devices and systems should be developed
unique characteristics of fiber assemblies. Materials, in par- based on much improved fundamental understandings.
ticular, nano-scaled inorganic, organic and polymeric materials
and their hybrids are examined for developing electronic func-
tions either on single fiber surface, or inside a single fiber or Acknowledgements
fiber assemblies. Various fabrication techniques are grouped
into two major categories, that is, the single-fiber type and the The authors acknowledge the funding support from Research Grants
fabric type, with the building elements of devices being single Council of Hong Kong SAR Government (Project No. PolyU5272/11E
and PolyU5251/13E).
fibers and fabrics, respectively. Summarized descriptions of
structures and performance of fiber-based wearable devices Received: February 10, 2014
are given including electronic components like transistors, Revised: March 29, 2014
antennas, connectors, sensors and sensing networks as well as Published online:
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633
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DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400633

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Fiber-Based Wearable Electronics: A Review of Materials,

and technically feasible to build electronic

fibers in the assemblies prevents catastrophic failure of the

Nano-scaled π-conjugated organic molecules and polymers

2.1.4. Fiber-Based Electrodes 3. Fabrication Technology

some interest.[52] Surface mounting technology used in elec-

4.1.1. Fiber Transistors

4.1.2. Fabric Antenna

Antenna Conductive layers Dielectric layer Antenna gain Frequency Band

Printed electronics using inkjets or classical

Table 3. Summary of fiber-based strain sensor.

Key material Transduction technique/Modulation Advantage Disadvantage

Key material Transduction technique/ Advantage Disadvantage

Table 5. Summary of fiber-based chemical and optical sensor.

Sensor type Key material Transduction technique/ Advantage Disadvantage

pressure sensors regardless of the toxicity or potential haz- poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene), or P(VDF-TrFe),

remarkable with triboelectric nanogenerator’s area power

The first term on the right-hand side refers to the piezoelec-

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