Sweden: "Logic" Fibers Weave "Smart" Clothes.

T printed with "E=" MC2 " shirt It will no longer be a patent for the elite of science and technology. By wrapping polymer fibers together, the researchers weave transistors and other simple logic circuits into warp and weft yarns of textiles. The researchers say this kind of computational function. Textile It may be able to track patients' health or help soldiers identify chemical weapons. "

This kind of fiber has been available for more than 10 years. For example, in 1996, researchers at the Georgia Institute of technology in Atlanta developed a sensor full of sensors. shirt It can monitor the heartbeat, body temperature and respiration of patients in real time. Other researchers added micro silicon chips to the fabric they made so that they had the initial computational power. However, these devices must be stitched into or attached to fabric through some means, thereby increasing additional costs and being prone to failure during use.

Now, Ola Ingon, a chemist at Linkping University in Sweden (OlleIngans) and his colleagues decided to turn the circuit into fabric itself. The researchers initially applied a conductive polymer composite (PEDOT/PSS) on the surface of the nylon cord and then coated a small amount of conductive polymer electrolyte on the intersection point of the two nylon cord. After that, the electrolyte became an electrical conductor between the two nylon ropes after drying and hardening. Eventually, the crossed fiber acts as a transistor. When the voltage is applied to one of the nylon cables, the current will pass between the crossed networks.

Researchers have recently reported this research in the online edition of Journal of natural materials. Researchers have even woven this nylon cord into traditional textiles, thus forming a new connection mode -- two circuits that follow digital logic, that is, "non" gate inverter and multiplexer. Whether the fiber can withstand the test of the washing machine is unknown, but Ingans said that the fibers and transistors are waterproof.

BarryDeCristofano, a chemical engineer and an electronic textiles expert at the Natic military research and development center in Massachusetts, USA, believes that this new method provides new possibilities for integrating different types of lines into textiles. "These conductive fibers can be woven into clothing, enabling people to connect to the world in many different ways," DeCristofano said.