August 2025

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 aug 2025

Electronic textiles or simply e-textiles are wearable fabrics that are embedded with electronic components adding specific functionality to them. Some of the common components currently in use are sensors, lights, batteries, microcontrollers etc. E-textiles are finding applications in defence, medical, sports, wellness etc. Advancements in flexible electronic technology is further giving boost to the e-textile industry. Research paper, 'Sensory interactive fibers and textiles' [Authors: Huanhuan Liu of Donghua University (China); Yuyuan Shi of Northumbria University (UK); You Pan of Fudan University (China); Zhaohui Wang of Donghua University (China); Bingjie Wang of Fudan University (China)], published in npj Flexible Electronics on 11 march 2025, reviews the research status of sensory interactive fibers and textiles in recent years, providing a detailed overview of functional fibers capable of achieving sensory interactive functions, categorizes system integration technologies for sensory interactive e-textiles, and summarizes the application scenarios of sensory interactive e-textiles. They are also termed as intelligent textiles and can engage almost all human senses, such as visual, haptic, auditory, or olfactory. Hence, sensory interactive e-textiles are indispensable in human-machine interaction due to their unique dynamic change characteristics, providing a more intelligent and personalized wearing experience. Developing these textiles require collaboration from multidisciplinary fields such as material science, computer science, fashion design, textile design etc. The research review defines the three typical development generations of intelligent e-textiles. Firstly, the sensory interactive e-textiles based on different senses have been summarized better to understand the intelligent interaction between humans and textiles. Then, detailed insights into how flexible electronics have been or can be incorporated into e-textile systems. Meanwhile, considering the characteristics of multidisciplinary cooperation, we propose a new design paradigm based on analyzing the inadequacy of the existing intelligent e-textile design process. Lastly, the development trend and potential problems of sensory interactive e-textiles are highlighted. Thus, this review aims to help scientists and designers collaborate more effectively in developing sensory interactive e-textiles in the context of interdisciplinary work. Authors of the study put forward four outlooks for the future development direction of interactive e-textiles - (1) Focus on user demands and improve the interactive function focus of smart e-textiles. (2) Comprehensively consider the composition technology of interactive e-textiles with different functions to improve their stability, usability, and multifunctional integration. (3) Optimize the performance of intelligent interactive materials and improve the efficiency of the production process to reduce the production cost of interactive e-textiles. (4) Efforts should focus on user's privacy and security while using interactive e-textiles as they have the ability to track, store, and transmit user information. Read on...

Nature: Sensory interactive fibers and textiles
Authors: Huanhuan Liu, Yuyuan Shi, You Pan, Zhaohui Wang, Bingjie Wang