Ideal for smart wears, there’s a new polymer that conducts electricity. A project is now in the works to make conductive polymers “spinnable” for manufacturing. This would facilitate making of smart wearables which will allow clothing to interact with the wearer and a device like a smartphone.
The innovation: “Smart wearables can be used to monitor human vital signs continuously while performing daily tasks so you don’t have to go to a medical facility to have them taken. It’s also possible to integrate them into garments for firefighters or soldiers, as chemical sensors that detect the presence of toxic chemicals,” said Hang Liu, an associate professor at the Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design, and Textiles at the Washington State University where she is working on the project.
Liu is working to develop a way to process the conductive polymer into fibres, and then make clothing. She plans to co-spin the polymer with another conventional polymer to make side-by-side two-component fibres.
“I’ll be working to develop special fibre-spinning nozzles that deliver the two polymers together. I can then manipulate the spinning process to understand how the two polymers’ interaction during spinning actually affects the final product and produce fibres with the desired conductive and sensing properties.”
The project: The project is under the aegis of a new National Science Foundation CAREER award that supports “early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization,” the NSF website said.
The five-year grant, funded for over $500,000, is all that was needed to help Liu stitch her dream to improve wearable technology. It could also help textile manufacturing in the US. “The supply chain interruptions we’ve seen around the world show the need to improve US textile manufacturing, and hi-tech fabrics are where the US can be competitive.”
Filling the funding gap: “The textile industry can’t afford to fund basic research to answer early questions on new technology, like processing the conductive polymer, and this grant can fill that gap. It provides support and an opportunity for me to work on something I’m passionate about,” Liu said, adding: “Fundamental research takes time and resources before the industry will adopt it. That’s what this project does.”
One important part of a CAREER grant is to include education and outreach activities. Liu will work on activities with her textile courses at WSU that involve developing lessons aimed at kindergarten through 12th graders to cultivate their interest in textile science and engineering, especially those from underrepresented groups in STEM.
