WEAVeING: Wearable Advanced fibre-based Electronics Integrated Manufacturing
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Wearable electronics are at the core of academic and industrial research and development as they present a market opportunity in excess of $53 billion in the RCUK strategic areas of healthcare and wellbeing, energy. This technology promises to play a key role in enabling the Internet of Things and integrated electronic systems, such as the Body Area Network concept. Wearable electronics currently relies on rigid and flexible electronic technologies which offer limited skin-compatibility in many circumstances, suffer washing and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable. Turning textiles into electronic components will address these issues, by unlocking ultimately wearable electronics potential through electronic textiles. Work is already underway to have breathable, washable and skin-compatible electronic textiles. However, progress towards wearable all-textile electronic devices and integrated systems has been held back by the absence of circuit design rules and textile integration processes for fibre-based components, which challenges the large-scale manufacturing of integrated textile circuits. Despite individual device demonstration, both integration processes lack from figures of merit and design rules, which consider electronics on a textile form factor and allow linking the physical properties of fibre-based components with the final device performances. This has been key in the establishment and standardisation of planar silicon-based electronics as we know it, and represents a fundamental enabling step for the large-scale implementation of wearable electronic textiles. Without design rules and integration processes, it is extremely difficult to develop competitive wearable devices suitable for commercialisation.
WEAVeING will pioneer the innovative manufacturing tools to enable wearable electronic textile integrated systems by developing electronic textile design and large-scale integration processes for washable, breathable and skin-compatible fibre-based electronic components.
WEAVeING will pioneer the innovative manufacturing tools to enable wearable electronic textile integrated systems by developing electronic textile design and large-scale integration processes for washable, breathable and skin-compatible fibre-based electronic components.
Planned Impact
My plan is to develop the design rules and production processes enabling the manufacturing of all-textile electronic devices that are washable, breathable and compatible with the human skin as required by healthcare and wellbeing applications. This project will identify the properties state-of-the-art electronic and optoelectronic fibres to develop the Figures of Merit and integration platforms delivering design, testing and sustainable manufacturing of integrated electronic textile circuits. The beneficiaries of the project will be the UK's national chemical, textile, healthcare, fashion, energy, electronic and lighting industries, where the new platform, skills and know-how developed could be quickly implemented, but more widely will be the different communities of end users that will benefit from new low-cost, low-power, wearable electronic devices integrated in general and technical wear (e.g. fashion & wellbeing) as well as medical tools (e.g. smart patches). The project will have a strong alignment with industry needs and engages with the project collaborators. I am already in discussion with several companies that will benefit from this work such as Google Inc, FlexEnable Ltd, Metier Ltd, SmartLife Ltd, HeathCoat Ltd, Eni SpA. Their unique expertise in the field of electronic textiles and integration with general- and sports-wear is key to maximize the industrial appeal of WEAVeING technology and facilitate the knowledge transfer. Two general meetings with the industrial and academic partners will be held at the end of the first and second year respectively, having the purpose to present and update industrial partners on the latest results of the project, define/update a quick route to industrial impact as well as acquiring useful information to define the internal strategy based on industrial feedbacks.
Moreover, the results of this project will contribute to strongly enhance the averall research field of wearable medical sensors and actuators and future devices for human-computer interaction.
- Economic Impact. The total predicted market for wearable electronics is $180Bn by 2020 from which >$80Bn in the RCUK strategic area of Healthcare and Wellbeing. The electronic textile technology will be disseminated to the UK industrial sector through direct interaction with relevant actors in the fields of system integration (FlexEnable), large-area electronic textiles development (HeatCoat) and healthcare and wellbeing applications (SmartLife and Metier). This project will also seek economic impact by disseminating the results of the project via workshops and conferences organized by special interest groups or catapults involving the industrial community. The engagement with IDTechEx will provide a regular update on the market trends to the team and access to the largest wearable electronics tradeshow. A textile display demonstrator will be presented to the same tradeshow, at the end of two years.
- Societal impact: The manufacturing of robust all-textile electronic devices will contribute to address national societal challenges such as accessible healthcare treatment for resource-poor areas, and sustainable economic development: offering a an innovative manufacturing technology for cost-effective, low-power, safe, wearable and bio-compatible smart patches for medical monitoring, treatment and rehabilitation that will facilitate democratisation of healthcare treatments. Towards the end of the project I will explore the integration of the ECG monitoring system and the light-emitting textile display to design a wearable patch in light-therapy devices for treatment of skin diseases and stimulating anti-inflammatory effect. To maximize the impact and dissemination of project's results I will organize a satellite workshop at IDTechEx 2021.
Finally, WEAVeING will not only generate a return in terms of professional development and know-how, but it will develop a plafrom for a strong future industry to consolidate in the UK.
Moreover, the results of this project will contribute to strongly enhance the averall research field of wearable medical sensors and actuators and future devices for human-computer interaction.
- Economic Impact. The total predicted market for wearable electronics is $180Bn by 2020 from which >$80Bn in the RCUK strategic area of Healthcare and Wellbeing. The electronic textile technology will be disseminated to the UK industrial sector through direct interaction with relevant actors in the fields of system integration (FlexEnable), large-area electronic textiles development (HeatCoat) and healthcare and wellbeing applications (SmartLife and Metier). This project will also seek economic impact by disseminating the results of the project via workshops and conferences organized by special interest groups or catapults involving the industrial community. The engagement with IDTechEx will provide a regular update on the market trends to the team and access to the largest wearable electronics tradeshow. A textile display demonstrator will be presented to the same tradeshow, at the end of two years.
- Societal impact: The manufacturing of robust all-textile electronic devices will contribute to address national societal challenges such as accessible healthcare treatment for resource-poor areas, and sustainable economic development: offering a an innovative manufacturing technology for cost-effective, low-power, safe, wearable and bio-compatible smart patches for medical monitoring, treatment and rehabilitation that will facilitate democratisation of healthcare treatments. Towards the end of the project I will explore the integration of the ECG monitoring system and the light-emitting textile display to design a wearable patch in light-therapy devices for treatment of skin diseases and stimulating anti-inflammatory effect. To maximize the impact and dissemination of project's results I will organize a satellite workshop at IDTechEx 2021.
Finally, WEAVeING will not only generate a return in terms of professional development and know-how, but it will develop a plafrom for a strong future industry to consolidate in the UK.
Organisations
- Imperial College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Jiangnan University (Collaboration)
- University of California, Berkeley (Collaboration)
- Adidas Group (Collaboration)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (Collaboration)
- MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- SWANSEA UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Polytechnic University of Milan (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
Felice Torrisi (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bohm S
(2021)
Graphene production by cracking.
in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences
Carey T
(2021)
Inkjet Printed Circuits with 2D Semiconductor Inks for High-Performance Electronics
in Advanced Electronic Materials
Fenech-Salerno B
(2023)
A sprayed graphene transistor platform for rapid and low-cost chemical sensing.
in Nanoscale
Hui F
(2021)
In Situ Observation of Low-Power Nano-Synaptic Response in Graphene Oxide Using Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy.
in Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Ji X
(2020)
A graphene-based electro-thermochromic textile display
in Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Kim H
(2022)
Barium titanate-enhanced hexagonal boron nitride inks for printable high-performance dielectrics.
in Nanotechnology
Latham K
(2022)
Challenges and opportunities in free-standing supercapacitors research
in APL Materials
Lund A
(2021)
Conducting materials as building blocks for electronic textiles.
in MRS bulletin
Mezzapesa F
(2020)
Semiconductor THz frequency combs exploiting solution processed graphene
Mezzapesa FP
(2020)
Terahertz Frequency Combs Exploiting an On-Chip, Solution-Processed, Graphene-Quantum Cascade Laser Coupled-Cavity.
in ACS photonics
Piatti E
(2021)
Charge transport mechanisms in inkjet-printed thin-film transistors based on two-dimensional materials
in Nature Electronics
Qiang S
(2019)
Wearable solid-state capacitors based on two-dimensional material all-textile heterostructures.
in Nanoscale
Schütt F
(2020)
Conversionless efficient and broadband laser light diffusers for high brightness illumination applications.
in Nature communications
Seyedin S
(2021)
Fibre electronics: towards scaled-up manufacturing of integrated e-textile systems.
in Nanoscale
Spanu A
(2022)
Parylene C-Based, Breathable Tattoo Electrodes for High-Quality Bio-Potential Measurements.
in Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology
Taale M
(2019)
Biomimetic Carbon Fiber Systems Engineering: A Modular Design Strategy To Generate Biofunctional Composites from Graphene and Carbon Nanofibers.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Wang T
(2023)
Hot Carrier Cooling and Trapping in Atomically Thin WS2 Probed by Three-Pulse Femtosecond Spectroscopy.
in ACS nano
Yong S
(2023)
Ti 3 C 2 MXene as Additive for Low-Cost Textile Supercapacitors with Enhanced Electrical Performance
in Advanced Materials Technologies
Title | A textile-based display |
Description | In collaboration with partners at the Royal College of Arts, London and the University of Jiangnan, China we created a textile-based display demonstrator based on a design architecture developed within WEAVeING. The display layout takes the advantage of the textile form factor and novel materials, such as graphene and thermocromic dyes. The new design rules developed by WEAVeING together with the novel functional fibres and textiles developed by SWIFT provide a unique mix of methods, novel materials and models for an all-textile generation of wearable electronic devices. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | This demonstrator will benefit industry sectors in the areas of wearble devices for healthcare, sportswear and commodities, demonstrating an industrially viable and scalable route to develop reproducible all-textile electronic devices based on figures of merit and design rules. |
URL | https://pubs.rsc.org/ko/content/articlehtml/2020/tc/d0tc03144e |
Title | Textile batteries for wearable devices |
Description | Our group used graphite exfoliated in solution and created what we call an ink or a dispersion of graphene in liquid, in this case a low-boiling ethanol or water, and we used this electrostatic, ionic interaction to ensure graphene sticks well to the fabric and withstands washing. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | We are working with a UK design studio to develop a new "natural lamp" concept using our textile batteries to power the LEDs of the lamp. |
URL | https://www.iom3.org/materials-world-magazine/news/2019/jul/01/textile-batteries-wearable-devices |
Description | We discovered a platform for advanced manufacturing of smart fibres using novel nanomaterials and polimers for smart textiles and wearable electronics. In collaboration with the industry partners we have developed technique to incorporate environmentally-safe and biocompatible functional materials on tectile fibres and fabrics. These resulted in smart textiles able to incorporate electrical and electronic functions able to partially replace integrated circuits, while retaining the textile form factor. |
Exploitation Route | Academia: Future research project could exploit these results to expand the level or electronic textile development from components to circuits as well as explore the textile/rigid electronics interface. Industry:textile manufacturers adopting some of the manufacturing relevant techniques developed byt he project into their products. This could be also supported by future InnovateUK or KTP grants. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Electronics Energy Healthcare Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | The design rules and textile integration strategies developed in this project are being used to generate economic impact by fostering collaboration with technical textile manufacturers (Klopman SpA) and wearable electronic device manufacturers (Metier cycling Ltd and Smartlife Ltd) which are testing our approach to integrate electronic fibres and textiles in their devices. This is based on daily interactions of WEAVeING researchers and company researchers in the lab, developing strategies to upscale the e-textile integration and engineer small electronic textile demonstrators that serve as technology proof of concept adding value to existing commercial wearable products. In addition we are engaging in various dissemination activities (mostly onlyne due to the current pandemic) for the general public and industrial stakeholders, such as the Imperial Techforesighs showcase, the London Fashion Week, the Imperial Science Roadshow at South Kensington, London generating societal impact and awareness on the benefit on this future emergin technology. This is also done with the aid of small textile wearable healthcare demonstrators measuring an ECG and body motion, showcasing the huge potential for healthcare applications in the area or remote patient monitoring. Societal impact is being pursued in the ongoing effort to train future experts and reseaechers in the field of wearable electronics and electronic textiles via the training of the reseachers hired by this project with the suitable skills and know-how to succesfully develope wearable electronic textile devices. The by working directly with indutrial partners to facilitate sharing of good-practice and know-how when operating with fibre-based textiles. Masters and PhD teaching courses at Imperial college are also helping to create a knowledge centre that can be didactically shared with Graduate students who are going to become the professionals of the future in this field and will bring along their expertise to their future workplace. This was done by extabliscing a lecture part on electronic textiles within the module of Plastic electronics at Imperial College and a lecture series on electronic textiles in the CDT of Institute of Chemical Biology at Imperial which focuses on smart and sustainable textiles. Further societal impact was developed in the area of Healthcare technologies, by working along with the Manchester Metropolitan Univesity to develop smart personal protective equipment for vulnerable patients, that includes body parameter monitoring relevant for remote patient care. Dr Torrisi was invited to participate to the first phase of an EPSRC Heathcare Technologies grant coordinate by Dr Lei Su from Queen Mary University London. The consortium developed textile based pressure sensors based on piezoelectric matrices, using conducting and stretchable fibres developed by WEAVeING. The prototypes developed are now being tested at the Royal London Hospital on a group of clinical trial. |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Chemicals,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Electronics,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | Graduate and postgraduate course on Plastic Electronics |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | The course aims to provide knowdlege and skills in the rapidly emerging areas of plastic, flexible and wearable electronics. A key pilllar of this teaching module is textile electronics and its application into wearable devices. The course is thought for final year undergraduate students and MRes students in Plastic Electronic Materials at Imperial College and is designed to equip the students with the fundamental knowledge and skills to become the future researchers and engineers operating in the field wearable devices. The course is part of the activities offered by the Centre for Processable Electronics at Imperial College and is supported by integrated trainingand lab facilities of the Centre |
URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/study/programme-specifications/physics/1819/ProgSp... |
Description | Memership of the steering committee of EPSRC E-Textile Network |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Impact | The new stategies for natural fibre manufacturing developed by SWIFT and integrated by WEAVeING increased the awareness and impact of electronic waste and raised the support and need fo a future move towards sustainable electronics. This falls within the remit of both SWIFT and WEAVeING which develop sustainable electronic textiles based on natural fibres and integration strategies for electronic textiles. The outputs generated in both projects influenced positively the activities fo the EPSRC e-textile Network resulting in dedicated proof of concept calls and events nurturing and disseminating the development and sustainable electronic textile manufacturing. |
URL | https://e-textiles-network.com/news-and-events/ |
Description | Chinese Scholarship Council - PhD Scholarship |
Amount | ¥800,000 (CNY) |
Organisation | Chinese Scholarship Council |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | China |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 09/2023 |
Description | EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account imperial |
Amount | £42,527 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/R511547/1 |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 01/2021 |
Description | Industrial funding |
Amount | £36,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | SSM Technology Ltd |
Sector | Private |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2020 |
End | 04/2023 |
Description | President's PhD Scholarship Award 2020 |
Amount | £81,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 04/2024 |
Description | Smart Sustainable Textiles with 2D materials |
Amount | ¥800,000 (CNY) |
Organisation | Chinese Scholarship Council |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | China |
Start | 09/2022 |
End | 09/2026 |
Description | Studies of Electronic Structures of Single-flake MXenes (Ti3C2Tx, Ti2CTx and Nb2CTx) |
Amount | $120,000 (USD) |
Organisation | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
Sector | Public |
Country | United States |
Start | 08/2024 |
End | 12/2024 |
Title | A new method integration tool to design all-textile based displays |
Description | WEAVeING has generated a set of novel integration tools for smart e-textiles manufacturing that allow a multi-component integration of fibre-based electronic devices and functional coatings/inks based on biocompatible polymers or graphene that enables unprecetented all-textile electronic devices such as displays or energy storage elements. This approach is based on an optimisation of the textile design rules, complemented by the introduction of functional electronic fibres with conducting or colour changing properties that crease the pixels of a display. The set of design rules is highly versatile and can be extended to thermal management via textile-enabled heating or cooling of surfaces as well as selectivity enhancement in sensing applications. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The main impact is in enabling multicomponent integration of wearable all-textile based functional components into a textile electronic circuit that is equivalent to a planar electronic circuit. This enables the design and scalable manufacturing of integrated wearable electronic textile devices that do not need the imcorporation of rigid electronic parts. |
URL | https://pubs.rsc.org/ko/content/articlehtml/2020/tc/d0tc03144e |
Title | Develped new and upscaled synthesis technique for 2D materials |
Description | The group has developed a new process to synthesise large quantities of expremely pure graphene and 2D materials in solution. Based on a radical technology shift from the old-fashioned ultrasonication exfoliation, the new process is based on electrochemical exfoliation which results in a more efficient, upscalable and sutainable synthesis technique. The process is also very versatile, allowing a large range of dispersions of 2D materials to be manufactured. These in turn enabled novel e-fibres based functionalised with 2D materials exploting the semiconducting electronic nature of some 2D materials, resulting in unrivalled fibre-based photovoltaic devices. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The impact is in the everging field of smart textiles and textile energy materials for the generation and storage of energy from body motion and heat. |
Title | Layered materials and methods for their processing |
Description | The development of fibre-based electronic devices required an "ad hoc" method for producing nanoplates derived from a layered material, which could be incorporated with the textiles and fibres. In a joint effort SWIFT and WEVeING developed a patented method for the synthesis of nanoplatelets of layered materials optimised for the incorporation on fibres and textiles. Such a method is based on a solution based approach producing inks and dyes suitable for textile coating. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This method will benefit textile manufacturers and industries operating in the wearable electronics sector (healthcare, sportswear and commodities) by providing a new method for the production of functional inks and coatings for advanced textiles. The inks have electrical and themal conductivity and are sensitive to visible light offering a platform of properties to enhance the functionality of textiles. The biocompatibility of the inks and their environmental stability combined with the sustainability of the process enable a robust life-cycle design of the electronic textiles. |
URL | https://patents.google.com/patent/US10906814B2/en |
Title | Large scale manufacturing of fibre-based electornic devices based on 2D materials |
Description | We have developed a new process for quick and non-disruptive analysis of a large range of 2D materials in solution. The model is based on correlation of various spectroscopic and scattering techniques and allows litres of graphene and 2D material inks to be characterised in minutes. This alows quick process monitoring and feedback. |
Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | Enable reproducible and robust large scale manufacturing of composites devices with inks of graphene and 2D materials. Fibres based devices have a very large aspect ratio and this requiresed a large quantity of functional inks to be coated layer-by-layer on the fibre. With our techniques long wet-spun fibres can be continuously manufactured in a reproducible way, with a high yield. |
Title | Process and materials fatabase for core/shell functional electronic natural fibres |
Description | The team has developed a unique and novel technique to manufacture core/shell fibres for active fibre-based device manufacturing. Preliminary graphene/MoS2 fibres have been produced by wet spinning of the conducting graphene coating and dip-coating of the semiconducting MoS2 shell around the core. Further core/shell fibres are being developed with graphene/PbS quantum dots layers. The new quasi one-dimensional form of the fibre-based devices requires novel electrical and optical characterisation approaches, different from those developed for traditional flat planar electronics. The team has developed a new process to deposit conformable electrodes around the fibre-based devices. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This novel process enables to electrically bias the active layers of the fibre and enable the characterisation of their electrical conductivity and optical response, for the first time. |
Title | graphene and two-dimensional material inks and composites |
Description | SWIFT has generated a new portfolio of inks and polymer composites with chemically modified two-dimensional materials (graphene, MoS2, WS2), nanoparticles (CdSe and PbS quantum dots). Thanks to the chemical functionalisation the inks show improved electrical, optical properties (such as electron mobility of more than 150 cm2 V-1 s-1 and on/off current modulation ratio of more than 104) and enhanced adhesion to cotton fibres and fabrics compared to commercial electronic inks. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | MoS2, WS2 inks and CdSe and PbS quantum dot inks show typical semiconducting properties with a bandgap between 1.2 and 1.9 eV. These are ideal inks for light emitting and detecting fibres. Graphene and conducting polymer inks (such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate, PDOT:PSS) are highly conducting inks which achieve conductivities of 10^5 S/m. Thanks to the database and the portfolio of materials and processes created by SWIFT this will now be used to manufacture electronic natural fibres.The team has employed these inks to manufacture a set of new cotton-graphene conducting fibres which possess the same mechanical properties of cotton combined with the graphene's and PDOT:PSS's electrical conductivity. The fibres are conductive and stretchable and their conductivity and the mechanical response can be modulated with the graphene/polymer's concentration. |
Description | Collaboration with Adidas on smart textiles for active heat management |
Organisation | Adidas Group |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The team has developed active thermally conducting coatings with with 2D materials such as hexagonal Boron Nitride. These show superior properties to commercial thermally conductings based on phase change materials. |
Collaborator Contribution | Adidas provided characterisation and testing of the textile devices, these were used as feedback to improve the 2D materials coating on textiles and optimise the development of the textile devices. Adidas informed and supported the team on the development of routes to scale up manufacturing the 2D material coating on textile via industry relevant techniques, which are adopted on the factory floor (e.g. dyeing poces, meniscus coating etc.). |
Impact | As a result of this collaboration our team and Adidas have applied for funding to the EU-Horizon Europe Pathfinder Program and EPSRC Programme Grant as members of a mulidisciplinary consortium. Both applications are still under evaluation. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Collaboration with University of California Berkeley |
Organisation | University of California, Berkeley |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our research team contributed with the supply of novel two-dimensional materials called MXenes in the form of networks and individual flakes for the investigation of their electronic structure. This is of fundamental importance for the design of future electronic devices made by nanostructured films of 2D materials. |
Collaborator Contribution | Angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy techniques for the mapping of the electronic band structure of MXene flakes and networks. |
Impact | The collaboration resulted in a project proposal to request funding from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to perform Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on various MXene types. Preliminary data on the ARPES measurements on MXene flakes are underway and this will support and inform the measurement campaign if the proposal is awarded the requested funding. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Collaboration with University of Southampton |
Organisation | University of Southampton |
Department | School of Electronics and Computer Science Southampton |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The development of smart conducting fibres within SWIFT has resulted in a solid ongoing collaboration with the group of Prof. Steve Beeby at the University of Southampton. This has already resulted in a presentation by Dr Torrisi during one of the E-textiles workshop organised at Southampton. |
Collaborator Contribution | The group of Prof Beeby at Southampton University is leading the research on textile-based energy storage and generation devices. The collaboration with this group has enabled testing and validation of the smart conducting fibre electrodes and as integrated all-textile energy storage elements. Hybrid integration of e-textiles with other rigid and flexible electronic components is indeed a key element in the development of smart fabrics. This collaboration is helping us to investigate such integration aspect and benchmark our technology with state-of-the-art alternatives. |
Impact | The outputs have succesfully resulted on the integration of conducting fibres and textiles developend within SWIFT (by graphene or other 2D material-based functionalisation of natural fibres) as a textile leyer component in energy storage devices such as electrochemical double layer supercapacitors or batteries. This resulted in an improvement of the energy storage capacity by more than one order of magnitude with respect to carbon-impregnated textile capacitors. More recently, the collaboration is developing integrated systems of textile supercapacitors (developed by SWIFT), novel advanced fibre integration strategies for textile electrothermochromic displays (being developed by WEAVeING) and triboelectric energy generators developed by the Southampton group. This has resulted already in several publications of integrated e-textile manufacturing strategies delivering textile-based circuits [Nature Commun. 8:1202], supercapacitors [Nanoscale 11:9912] for energy storage elements and textile-based displays [J. Mater. Chem. C 8:15788]. In co-creation with academics, industrial and manufacturing stakeholders we are preparing a new proposal for large a sustainable and large-scale manufacturing of functional e-textiles. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Collaboration with University of Swansea |
Organisation | Swansea University |
Department | College of Engineering |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The recent publication by T. Carey et al. ACS applied materials & interfaces 10 (23), 19948-19956 (2018) has been the positive outcome of a multi-lateral partnership directly linked to the award. The work involved the group of Dr Torrisi at the University of Cambridge and the group of Dr Deganello at the University of Swansea. The colleboration allowe to tackle some key issuer regarding figures of merit of conducting graphene inks for electronic textiles, enabling the printing of highly conducting fabrics. |
Collaborator Contribution | The University fo Swansea offered access to while light interferometry equipmenr and expertises decveloped within the group of Dr Deganello to precisely measurem the thickness of printed graphene films and determine the figure of merit of sheet resistance for the printed thin films in this project. |
Impact | T. Carey et al. ACS applied materials & interfaces 10 (23), 19948-19956 (2018) |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Collaboration with the EPSRC E-Textiles Network - Prof. Barbara Shepherd |
Organisation | Manchester Metropolitan University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Our team will contribute with the innovative fibre-based electronic components and integration strategies developed by SWIFT and WEAVeING. This will provide a new set of tools to validate the scalability and suitability for manufacturing of electronic-textiles in collaboration with the team at the Manchester Metropolitan Univesity. We will co-create electronic textile circuits by integration of our electronic fibre components (contucting, photodetector, colour changing and thermal fibres) which will be integrated via the design patterns identified in our research to create a motion sensor patch, a textile touch-pad and textile display. These will then be integrated to create a textile system that sensed, received inputs and shows outputs. Antenna designs will also be attempted for external connection and data sharing. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Fashion Institute at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) offers a boad range of facilities to test the manufacturing viability of the fibre-based technology and the e-textile design rules developed by WEAVeING. In particular the team lead by Dr Barbara Shepherd offers has extensive expertise in textile manufacturing for commercial and specialised clothing. More recently they have lead the Fashion Institute response to covid by designing and developing personal protective equipment for NHS staff. They have offered access to their manufacturing testing facility in Manchester to validate the design rules and smart fibre integration strategies and verify the resproducivility and scalability of our approach. The access encompasses use of weaving and knitting facilities at the institute as well as characterisation techniques for flexibility and mechanical performance of the resulting textiles. A design strategy advise will also be provided by the MMU staff. Their in-kind contribution has been estimated to be valued at around £15,000. |
Impact | The collaboration has recently started and due to the current pandemic current outputs are not yet finalised. However more defined outputs will be deteiled as the project evolves. |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Participation to EPSRC-funded FAST Healthcare Technologies Network Plus |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | The team is delivering SWIFT's wearable fibre-based technology to the network as a innovative technology to enable wearable healthcare electronic devices. The team has joined a consortium involving Plymouth, Leeds and Bath Universities aiming to deliver bio-0sensoprs on textiles for the early detection Alzhaimer. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr Torrisi has been invited to join the EPSRC-funded FAST Healthcare Technologies Network Plus which looks at the FAST Assessment and Treatment in Healthcare and aims to promote joined-up treatment in public health by taking a holistic view of clinical assessment and treatment pathways and developing solutions that deliver real impact on clinical treatment processes and patient outcomes. Through the FAST Healthcare Technologies Network Plus Dr Torrisi has been invited to join a consortium of UK researchers for EPSRC Standard application Titled "Graphene based immunosensors for early detection of Alzheimer's Disorder Blood Biomarkers". |
Impact | The team has joined a consortium involving Plymouth, Leeds and Bath Universities aiming to deliver bio-0sensoprs on textiles for the early detection Alzhaimer. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Politecnico di MIlano and Jiangnan University |
Organisation | Jiangnan University |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The recent publication by T. Carey et al. Nature Commun., 8 1202, 2017 on electronic textiles has been the positive outcome of a multi-lateral partnership directly linked to the award. The work involved my group at the University of Cambridge on one side and the Politecnico di Milano, Italy and the Key State Lab of Textiles at the University of Jiangnan, China on the other side. This collaboration has seen a synergic collaborative work towards the demonstration of integrated electronic components on textiles and fibres. |
Collaborator Contribution | Poilitecnico di Milano, Italy |
Impact | Publication: T. Carey et al. Nature Commun., 8 1202, 2017, Conference Presentation T. Carey et al Graphene week September 2017 |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Politecnico di MIlano and Jiangnan University |
Organisation | Polytechnic University of Milan |
Country | Italy |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The recent publication by T. Carey et al. Nature Commun., 8 1202, 2017 on electronic textiles has been the positive outcome of a multi-lateral partnership directly linked to the award. The work involved my group at the University of Cambridge on one side and the Politecnico di Milano, Italy and the Key State Lab of Textiles at the University of Jiangnan, China on the other side. This collaboration has seen a synergic collaborative work towards the demonstration of integrated electronic components on textiles and fibres. |
Collaborator Contribution | Poilitecnico di Milano, Italy |
Impact | Publication: T. Carey et al. Nature Commun., 8 1202, 2017, Conference Presentation T. Carey et al Graphene week September 2017 |
Start Year | 2017 |
Title | ELECTRONIC FIBRES AND TEXTILES |
Description | Described herein are processes for preparation of flexible fibres coated in 2 dimensional materials. These fibres are suitable for use in electronic devices and may be woven to form electronic textiles. |
IP Reference | GB2215428.0 |
Protection | Patent / Patent application |
Year Protection Granted | 2023 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | Industry project funding of proof of concept demonstrators for integration of smart electronic fibres into polymer composites |
Description | An invited talk at TechBlik |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | TechBlick is a highly regarded tradeshow with thuosands of industry and VC attendees. More than 100 attendees attended the invited talk, which generated a series of new industry contacts which are highli relevant for follow on projects on the broad topic of smart textiles and wearable electronics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.techblick.com/event-videos/graphene-%26-2d-materials%3A-end-users%2C-applications%2C-maj... |
Description | E-textile 2020 webinar on "Sustainable fibres" - EPSRC E-Textiles Network |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | This webinar was organised in collaboration with the EPSRC E-textiles Network as a replacement of a workshop and networking event planned to disseminate the results of SWIFT and WEAVeING projects. The webinar was hosted by the E-textiles netwoks and was adversited to the whole network community as well as to all the interested industrial and academic stake holders. A new manufacturing project proposal is being put together with relevant academic and industrial partners as a result of this webinar. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://e-textiles-network.com/e-textiles-network-webinar-fibre-based-electronics-for-sustainable-e-... |
Description | Invited talk at Grapchina 2020 Shanghai, China - online event for overseas participants |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Invited talk at conference |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Masterclass and tutorial on "Wearable electronics and e-textiles" at IEEE-FLEPS 2020 conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | This activity was intended to provide industry and relevant businesses with the fundamentals and updates on the rapidly emerging field of wearable electronics, with a particular focus on e-textiles. The one-hour masterclass covered first the basics of wearable electronics and e-textiles showing the advantages and open questions for this technology. Secondly, a more tecnical part introduced the state-of-the art of materials and processes to manufacture e-textiles and the range of applications. The activity also hosted a range of demonstrators showcasing applications in the Healthcare, welbeing and sensing sectors. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://2020.ieee-fleps.org/general/tutorials |
Description | Talk at London Centre for Nanotechnology |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk at the London Centre for Nanotechnology. About 30 pupils attended the event from various schools in London |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Talk at i-CANX - Online dissemination talks |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | more than 100 attendees worldwide given the online nature of the event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.ican-x.com/award |
Description | Technology showcase at Imperial Techforesight 2020 - Session on Malleable Matter - A new era of wearables: Embedding advanced technology into our lives. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | The event is a presentation of technologies developed in academia that have a high potential for industrial uptake. More than 100 industries participated to the event and this sparked questions after the presentation as well as lead to discussions afterwards. One company attending the event, is now discussing the option to engage in an industrially funded project to apply the manufacturing strategies developed by SWIFT and WEAVeING into future products in functional technical textiles for healthcare application. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://imperialtechforesight.com/tf2040/malleable-matter/ |