Highly Wearable, Breathable, and Washable Sensing Textile for Human Motion and Pulse Monitoring

TLDR

Pressure sensor textiles are important for wearable electronics, yet designing devices that are sensitive, simple to fabricate, and low cost remains challenging. The study develops a triboelectric sensing textile using core–shell yarns. The textile uses a woven structure with nylon and PTFE filaments as positive and negative layers and a helical stainless steel yarn as the inner electrode. The textile achieves sensitivities of 1.33 V·kPa⁻¹ and 0.32 V·kPa⁻¹ over two pressure ranges, remains stable after 4,200 cycles or 4 h washing, and, due to its flexibility, breathability, lightness, and dyeability, can be worn on various body parts to quantify joint motions and record real‑time pulse signals, demonstrating a versatile platform for smart textiles and personalized healthcare.

Abstract

At present, pressure sensor textiles are of great significance in the area of wearable electronics, especially for making smart or intelligent textiles. However, the design of these textile-based devices with sensitive ability, simple fabrication, and low cost is still challenging. In this study, we developed a triboelectric sensing textile constructed with core–shell yarns. Nylon filament and polytetrafluoroethylene filament were selected as the positive and negative layers, respectively, in the woven structure while the built-in helical stainless steel yarn was serving as the inner electrode layer. The sensitivity of the sensing textile can reach up to 1.33 V·kPa–1 and 0.32 V·kPa–1 in the pressure range of 1.95–3.13 kPa and 3.20–4.61 kPa, respectively. This sensing textile presented good mechanical stability and sensing capability even after 4200 cycles of continuous operation or after 4 h continuous water washing. Benefiting from the favorable merits of being highly flexible, breathable, lightweight, and even dyeable, the fabricated device was capable of being placed on any desired body parts for quantifying the dynamic human motions. It can be effectively used to measure and monitor various human movements associated with different joints, such as the hand, elbow, knee, and underarm. Moreover, the sensing textile was able to capture real-time pulse signals and reflect the current health status for human beings. This study affords an innovative and promising track for multifunctional pressure sensor textiles with wide applications in smart textiles and personalized healthcare.