Ionofibers: Ionically Conductive Textile Fibers for Conformal i-Textiles

With the rise of ion-based devices using soft ionic conductors, ionotronics show the importance of matching electronic and biological interfaces. Since textiles are conformal, an essential property for matching interfaces, light-weight and comfortable, they present as an ideal candidate for a new generation of ionotronics, i-textiles. As fibers are the building blocks of textiles, ionically conductive fibers, named ionofibers, are needed. However, ionofibers are not yet demonstrated to fulfill the fabric manufacturing requirements such as mechanical robustness and upscaled production. Considering that ionogels are known to be conformal films with high ionic conductivity, ionofibers are produced from commercial core yarns with specifically designed ionogel precursor solution via a continuous dip-coating process. These ionofibers are to be regarded as composites, which keep the morphology and improve the mechanical properties from the core yarns while adding the (ionic) conductive function. They keep their conductivity also after their integration into conformal fabrics; thus, an upscaled production is a likely outlook. The findings offer promising perspectives for i-textiles with enhanced textile properties and in-air electrochemical applications.

Automated summary

With the development of ion-based devices and ionotronics, there is a growing recognition of the importance of matching electronic and biological interfaces. Textiles, known for their conformity, lightweight, and comfort, are considered an ideal candidate for the new generation of ion-based electronics, known as i-textiles. Researchers have successfully produced ionically conductive fibers, called ionofibers, using a continuous dip-coating process with a specially designed ionogel precursor solution. These ionofibers, which maintain their conductivity even after integration into fabrics, offer promising perspectives for the development of i-textiles with enhanced properties and in-air electrochemical applications.