Smart polymeric materials applied to industry 4.0: A review on electrochromic textiles

Abstract

Smart polymeric materials are vital to Industry 4.0 for the development of new technologies in order to gather data in real-time, providing useful information to the manufacturing system. In this context, electrochromic textiles have been researched with innovative applications for information monitoring. Electrochromic textiles are reported to reversibly switch colors through the incorporation of several conducting polymers, while the flexibility and stretchability are provided by the polymeric fiber. The scope of electrochromic technologies can be extended to different polymeric fibers, such as poly(amide) and poly(methyl methacrylate). Electrochromic textiles have been explored due to their promising applications in sensing, detecting, and displaying. This work aims to present and discuss the overall usability of electrochromic textiles by reviewing recent developments which have been done in order to straighten the path for future researches in this field. The current state-of-the-art shows that researchers are seeking an approach to obtain electro-stimulated response smart textiles having frequency response, high precision and excellent discoloration ability, meanwhile without changing the normal fabric properties. The possible application of electrochromic textiles for the development of Industry 4.0 is discussed. Despite the great technological evolution until this moment, there is still too much to be explored and discovered in the field of electrochromic textiles with potential application for the expansion of Industry 4.0.