London, Nov 13 (PTI) Scientists have successfully printedwashable and stretchable electronic circuits into fabric,paving the way for smart textiles and wearable electronics.
The circuits were made with cheap, safe andenvironmentally friendly inks, and printed using conventionalinkjet printing techniques.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UKshowed how graphene - a two-dimensional form of carbon - canbe directly printed onto fabric to produce integratedelectronic circuits which are comfortable to wear and cansurvive up to 20 cycles in a typical washing machine.
The new textile electronic devices are based on low-cost,sustainable and scalable inkjet printing of inks based ongraphene and other two-dimensional materials, and are producedby standard processing techniques.
Based on earlier work on the formulation of graphene inksfor printed electronics, the team designed low-boiling pointinks, which were directly printed onto polyester fabric.
Additionally, they found that modifying the roughness ofthe fabric improved the performance of the printed devices.
The versatility of this process allowed the researchersto design not only single transistors but all-printedintegrated electronic circuits combining active and passivecomponents.
Most wearable electronic devices that are currentlyavailable rely on rigid electronic components mounted onplastic, rubber or textiles.
These offer limited compatibility with the skin in manycircumstances, are damaged when washed and are uncomfortableto wear because they are not breathable.
"Other inks for printed electronics normally requiretoxic solvents and are not suitable to be worn, whereas ourinks are both cheap, safe and environmentally-friendly, andcan be combined to create electronic circuits by simplyprinting different two-dimensional materials on the fabric,"said Felice Torrisi from Cambridge.
"Digital textile printing has been around for decades toprint simple colorants on textiles, but our resultdemonstrates for the first time that such technology can alsobe used to print the entire electronic integrated circuits ontextiles," said Roman Sordan of Politecnico di Milano inItaly.
"The printed components are flexible, washable andrequire low power, essential requirements for applications inwearable electronics," said Tian Carey, PhD student atCambridge.
The work opens up a number of commercial opportunitiesfor two-dimensional material inks, ranging from personalhealth and well-being technology, to wearable energyharvesting and storage, military garments, wearable computingand fashion.
"Turning textile fibres into functional electroniccomponents can open to an entirely new set of applicationsfrom healthcare and wellbeing to the Internet of Things," saidTorrisi.
"Thanks to nanotechnology, in the future our clothescould incorporate these textile-based electronics, such asdisplays or sensors and become interactive," he said. PTI MHNSARMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.