Air-Permeable Textile Bioelectronics for Wearable Energy Harvesting and Active Sensing

Abstract

Advances in wearable bioelectronics enable the possibility of transforming the currently reactive and disease-centric healthcare system to one focused on disease prevention and health promotion. Converting biomechanical activities into electrical signals could be a unique way to develop wearable bioelectronics for personalized healthcare. In this work, an air-permeable textile (APT) bioelectronics is developed. It is formed with a liquid metal electrode treated with Nickel (Ni-EGaIn) encapsulated between two layers of electrospun Polycaprolactone textile. With a size of 4 cm by 4 cm, the APT bioelectronics produces an open-circuit voltage of 12 V and a short-circuit current of 0.12 mA, ultimately outputting a power density of 7.975 W m−2. The APT bioelectronics demonstrates an ability to produce electrical output under varying degrees of deformation with stable performance over 6000 cycles. In addition, the APT bioelectronics holds a drying rate of 5.07% min−1 compared to conventional fabrics such as polyester with a drying rate of 3.93% min−1. This keeps the ATP dry and cool for decent wearing comfort. With a collection of compelling features, the air-permeable textile bioelectronics represents a promising approach for human body centered energy and sensing applications.