E-textiles

On 17 - 19th of March 2021 IDTechEx attended (virtually) the Canadian Printed and Flexible Electronics Symposium), known as CPES2021. This premium article reviews a selection of the most interesting and/or commercially relevant talks

An electronic textile with a large-area display that could have applications in communications, navigation and healthcare is described in Nature. The textile is flexible, breathable and durable, making it an ideal material for practical uses.

Electronic textiles offer revolutionary new opportunities in various fields, in particular healthcare. But to be sustainable, they need to be made of renewable materials. A research team now presents a thread made of conductive cellulose, which offers fascinating and practical possibilities for electronic textiles.

Nanoengineers have developed a "wearable microgrid" that harvests and stores energy from the human body to power small electronics. It consists of three main parts: sweat-powered biofuel cells, motion-powered devices called triboelectric generators, and energy-storing supercapacitors. All parts are flexible, washable and can be screen printed onto clothing.

Advances in wearable devices have enabled e-textiles, which fuse lightweight and comfortable textiles with smart electronics, and are garnering attention as the next-generation wearable technology. In particular, fiber electronic devices endowed with electrical properties, while retaining the specific characteristics of textiles, are key elements in manufacturing e-textiles.

This premium article covers the major launches and themes in the niche wearable technology product areas of skin patches and e-textiles. Despite the "consumer" focus of the event, much of the discussion and product launches of note focused around health and wellness applications, including products on both the consumer and medical side of the regulatory barriers. This article reviews some of the prominent announcements and companies present at this year's virtual event.

A year onwards, COVID-19 is still among us, and hitting us hard. As a result of this current pandemic, people are expected to keep a safe distance from each other. No more hugs from friends and family, no more slaps on the shoulder from colleagues. But when people are not allowed to get close physically, feelings of loneliness and insecurity can arise.

The smart mattress-cover demonstrator features an array of several hundred flexible printed pressure sensors from InnovationLab integrated with health-monitoring software from Bitquadrat, which leverages machine learning /artificial intelligence and real-time data processing.

A smart shirt for athletes will monitor heart and muscle activity, analyse temperature and perspiration during exercise while working with an app that records the course of training, the route of walking, running or cycling, the shirt can also help users to compete online with other athletes.