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Toward sustainable wearable electronic textiles

Dulal, Marzia; Afroj, Shaila; Ahn, Jaewan; Cho, Yujang; Carr, Chris; Kim, Il Doo; Karim, Nazmul

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Authors

Marzia Dulal

Shaila Afroj

Jaewan Ahn

Yujang Cho

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Dr. Chris Carr Chris.Carr@uwe.ac.uk
Occasional Associate Lecturer - CBAL - AEF

Il Doo Kim

Nazmul Karim



Abstract

Smart wearable electronic textiles (e-textiles) that can detect and differentiate multiple stimuli, while also collecting and storing the diverse array of data signals using highly innovative, multifunctional, and intelligent garments, are of great value for personalized healthcare applications. However, material performance and sustainability, complicated and difficult e-textile fabrication methods, and their limited end-of-life processability are major challenges to wide adoption of e-textiles. In this review, we explore the potential for sustainable materials, manufacturing techniques, and their end-of-the-life processes for developing eco-friendly e-textiles. In addition, we survey the current state-of-the-art for sustainable fibers and electronic materials (i.e., conductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics) to serve as different components in wearable e-textiles and then provide an overview of environmentally friendly digital manufacturing techniques for such textiles which involve less or no water utilization, combined with a reduction in both material waste and energy consumption. Furthermore, standardized parameters for evaluating the sustainability of e-textiles are established, such as life cycle analysis, biodegradability, and recyclability. Finally, we discuss the current development trends, as well as the future research directions for wearable e-textiles which include an integrated product design approach based on the use of eco-friendly materials, the development of sustainable manufacturing processes, and an effective end-of-the-life strategy to manufacture next generation smart and sustainable wearable e-textiles that can be either recycled to value-added products or decomposed in the landfill without any negative environmental impacts.

Citation

Dulal, M., Afroj, S., Ahn, J., Cho, Y., Carr, C., Kim, I. D., & Karim, N. (2023). Toward sustainable wearable electronic textiles. ACS Nano, 16(12), 19755–19788. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c07723

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 10, 2022
Online Publication Date Nov 30, 2022
Publication Date Dec 27, 2023
Deposit Date Dec 2, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal ACS Nano
Print ISSN 1936-0851
Electronic ISSN 1936-086X
Publisher American Chemical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 12
Pages 19755–19788
DOI https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c07723
Keywords General Physics and Astronomy; General Engineering; General Materials Science, wearable electronics, e-textiles, sustainability, biodegradability, recyclability, sustainable electronics, smart textiles, life cycle analysis
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10197871
Publisher URL https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.2c07723

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