Ultrastretchable and Washable Conductive Microtextiles by Coassembly of Silver Nanowires and Elastomeric Microfibers for Epidermal Human-Machine Interfaces

Electronic textiles offer exciting opportunities for an emerging class of electronic technology featuring intimate interaction with the human body. Among various functional components, a stretchable conductive textile represents a key building material to support the development of sensors, interconnects, and electrical contacts. In this study, a conductive textile is synthesized by bottom-up coassembly of silver nanowires and TPU microfibers. The conformal coverage of AgNW network over individual TPU microfibers gives rise to coherent deformations to mitigate the actual strain for enhanced stretchability and durability. The as-prepared conductive microtextile exhibits a series of desirable properties including excellent conductivity (>5000 S cm(-1)), exceptional stretchability (similar to 600% strain), soft mechanical properties, breathability, and washability. The practical implementation is demonstrated by fabricating an integrated epidermal sensing sleeve for multichannel EMG signal recordings, which supports real-time hand gesture recognitions powered by machine learning algorithm as a smart human-machine interface. The conductive textile reported in this study is well suited for garment integrated electronics with potential applications in health monitoring, robotic prosthetics, and competitive sports.

Automated summary

Electronic textiles offer exciting opportunities for intimate interaction with the human body. The conductive textile synthesized in this study shows excellent properties including high conductivity, exceptional stretchability, soft mechanical properties, breathability, and washability. Practical implementation is demonstrated through the fabrication of an integrated epidermal sensing sleeve for real-time hand gesture recognitions, serving as a smart human-machine interface.