The Journal of The Textile Institute

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Overview of wearable electronics and smart

textiles

Mozhdeh Ghahremani Honarvar & Masoud Latifi

To cite this article: Mozhdeh Ghahremani Honarvar & Masoud Latifi (2017) Overview of
wearable electronics and smart textiles, The Journal of The Textile Institute, 108:4, 631-652,
DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2016.1177870

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2016.1177870

Published online: 01 Jun 2016.

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The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2017
VOL. 108, NO. 4, 631–652
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2016.1177870

Overview of wearable electronics and smart textiles

Mozhdeh Ghahremani Honarvar and Masoud Latifi
Textile Engineering Department, Textile Excellence & Research Centers, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Protection and esthetics are the two common characteristics typically associated with textiles as clothing. Received 28 February 2015
Nevertheless, with the quickly altering needs of today’s consumers, a third characteristic is rising – that of Accepted 6 April 2016
“intelligence” – that is being integrated into fabrics to produce interactive or textiles (or i-textiles). The term KEYWORDS
electronic textiles, or e-textiles, are used to denote the class of fabric structures that integrate electronic Smart textile; conductive ink;
elements with textiles and can sense changes in its environment and respond to it. This new class of intelligent apparels
wearable electronic systems is being designed to meet new and innovative applications in the military,
public safety, healthcare, space exploration, sports, and consumer fitness fields. The goal of this paper is
to focus on recent advances in the field of Smart Textiles and pay particular attention to the materials and
their manufacturing process. Each technique shows advantages and disadvantages and the aim of this
study is to improve the overall usability of smart clothing products by reviewing all developments which
have been done in this case in order to straighten the path for future investigations and researches in this
field.

Introduction like very smart or intelligent materials, another kind of unit is

essential, which works like the brain, with cognition, reasoning,
Natural world present various models of smart structures. The
and activating capacities. Such an active control is necessary for
simple single-celled living creature may show up the fundamen-
different applications related to human body required for elec-
tals. As shown in Figure 1, different conditions or stimuli such
tronics in textiles that induced a new research field “e-textiles”
as radiation, temperature, force, chemical reactions, magnetic,
(Tao & T.T. Institute, 2005).
and electric fields from the environment act on the outer layer.
Sensors in the outer layer identify these effects, and the resulting
information is transmitted for signal processing and interpre-
Electronic textiles
tation, at which point the cell responds to these environmental
conditions or stimuli in different ways. The challenge of wearable computer researchers was how to link
Human researches are going to develop artificial structures in computer hardware to clothing. Steve Mann, in the 1980s, first
order to make them smart, which means it can sense and react pioneered in the experimental labs of Massachusetts Institute of
to environmental conditions or stimuli. Based on the manner Technology (MIT) who implemented this technology by attach-
of response, these materials can be divided into passive smart, ing various kinds of electronic devices to garments. Also different
active smart, and very smart materials. Passive smart materials methods have been used to continue this technology by a­ ttaching
can only sense the environmental conditions or stimuli; active electrical components directly onto the fabric and interconnect
smart materials will sense and react to the conditions or stim- them through the fabric over an arbitrary wiring structure
uli; very smart materials can sense, react, and adapt themselves (Marculescu, Marculescu, Zamora, & Stanley-Marbell, 2003).
accordingly. Also, higher level of intelligence can be reached from As shown in Figure 2, carrying heavy rigid boxes in inflexible
those intelligent materials capable of responding or activated to areas with visible wires through the cloths are impractical for
perform a function in a manual or pre-programmed manner daily use and cause users unsatisfied and feeling uncomfortable.
(Tao, 2001). Consequently, three components may be present New techniques such as using conductive yarns have been
in such materials: sensors, actuators, and controlling units. The developed to provide innovative soft textile interfaces that
sensors for providing a nerve system to detect signals, thus in a are highly acceptable to the end user (Van Langenhove & T.T.
passive smart material, the existence of sensors is essential. The Institute, 2007).The key elements for creating e-textiles are the
actuators act upon the detected signal either directly or from use of electrically conductive fibers or yarns in which signals can
a central control unit; together with the sensors, they are the be sent throughout the garment and other flexible segments such
essential element for active smart materials. At even higher levels, as sensors, actuators, or computer chips which are embedded

CONTACT Mozhdeh Ghahremani Honarvar [email protected]

© 2016 The Textile Institute
632 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Figure 1. A single cell living creature is an example of smart structures.

Figure 2. Wearable computing devices developed by Steve Mann.

in the garment. Electrically conductive fibers or yarns can be monitoring body functions, delivering communication facilities,
achieved using conductive materials in fibrous form, such as data transfer, individual environment control, and many other
metals or carbon, or even conductive polymers such as poly- applications (Mattila, 2006).
aniline that can be used as wiring within a piece of fabric. These Using modern electronics and computer technologies in
wires can carry electricity to various components (Steele, 2005). clothing brings more exciting possibilities for techno-textiles.
This innovation is a major new concept which opens up a whole Depending upon the different approaches adopted, e-textiles are
assortment of multi-functional, wearable e-textiles for sensing/ also called smart textiles, intelligent textiles, wearable electronics,
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  633

free movement of electrons through their structure; in order

for polymers to be electronically conductive they must possess
not only charge carriers but also an orbital system that allows
the charge carriers to move. The conjugated structure can meet
the second requirement through a continuous overlapping of
S-orbitals along the polymer backbone (Dai, 2004).
In 1977 Hideki Shirakawa, Alan MacDiarmid, and Alan
Heeger published their invention that led to the 2000 Nobel
Prize in chemistry. Since the early 1980s development has been
great and today the inherently conductive polymers (ICPs), such
as polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), polytiophene (PT),
and poly (perinaphtalene) (Pna) have attained a level where
many industrial applications have become reality. The materi-
als have become more practical because of improved resistance
to oxygen and better processability (Ulrich, 1993). In fact, the
general characteristic of all ICPs is poor processability. This is
because of rigid, tightly packed chain structure of ICPs that is
essential for interchain charge hopping, but avoids the polymer
intermixing with solvent molecules. To overcome this problem
Figure 3. Multidisciplinary environment for e-textiles. the modification has been done in chemical structure of ICPs by
substituted derivatives, copolymers like polyisoprene, polysty-
rene, or polybutadiene (Ferraro & Williams, 1987), composites,
polyblends, colloidal dispersions, and coated latexes. The appli-
cation of these kind of polymers is in the electronics industry as
packing materials for microelectronic devices that are sensitive
to electric discharges (Coyle et al., 2007).
Today, a wide variety of conducting polymers are available,
and the structure of more popular kinds is shown in Figure 4
(Mattila, 2006).
Polyacetylene (PA) was the first polymer exhibiting high con-
ductivity comparable with metals if exposed to oxidizing agents
like iodine vapor. Oxidation forms charge carriers on the conju-
gated polyene structure, especially of p-type conductivity. It is also
one of the most promising materials for applications in optoelec-
tronics. PA exists in two isomeric forms: trans and cis. The highest
electrical conductivity of PA films achieved was 2.2 [Ω m]−1 in
the case of trans and the highest room temperature results were
obtained in the case of cis-PA with value of 5.6 [Ω m]–1 (Chiang,
Fincher, Park, & MacDiarmid, 1978). Those films were described
as flexible, crystalline, and silvery, and their conductivity after
doping is equal to that of copper. Polyacetylene films exhibit con-
ductivity dependence on film orientation. Films are oriented by
stretching. Stretched films show about 20 times increased conduc-
tivity compared with as-grown films (Soga, 1992). The stability of
electrical conductivity and antioxidation ability of PA films have
been improved by air or argon (Ar) plasma treatment (Wang,
Zhao, & Wang, 1989). PA fibers were obtained by polymerizing
Figure 4. Chemical structure of various electrically conductive polymers.
PA on the surface of a glass fiber or steel wire that had been dipped
in the catalyst solution (Chiang, Druy, Gau, & Shirakawa, 1978).
and wearable computers (Suh, 2011). Multidisciplinary environ- When acetylene is polymerized in solutions of certain saturated
ment for e-textiles is diagramed in Figure 3. polymers, nanoparticles of polyacetylene are formed (Liming &
White, 1997). These nanopolyacetylene blends appear to be sta-
ble, have low defect content, and exhibit a set of unique optical
Conductive polymers properties, which are not characteristics of standard polyacetylene
The conjugated structure with alternating single and double modifications (Kobryanskii & R.T. Limited, 2000).
bonds or conjugated segments coupled with atoms providing For investigating other conductive polymer applications, two
p-orbitals for a continuous orbital overlap (e.g. N, S) seems to kinds of polymers (polyanilin and polypyrrole) have been coated
be necessary for polymers to become intrinsically conducting. on cotton fabric by in situ oxidative polymerization. It was found
This is because just as metals have high conductivity due to the that these fabrics had excellent UV-protection properties and the
634 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

fibers or metallic fibers are developed from electrically conduc-

tive metals such as ferrous alloys, nickel, stainless steel, titanium,
aluminum, copper. Metallic fibers are typically produced by either
using a bundle-drawing process or by a shaving process. The bun-
dle-drawing process consists of bundling several fine metal wires
then drawing them continuously and simultaneously from source
metals. Metal fibers are very thin metal filaments, with diameters
ranging from 1 to 80 μm. In Figure 5, a comparison between these
fibers and the diameter of a strand of human hair which ranges
between 70 and 100 μm has been made (B.F. Technologies, 2001).
Treated conductive fibers can be obtained from conductive
metal or carbon powders which are used in the production pro-
Figure 5. Metallic fiber diameters compared to human hair.
cess. In this method, percentage of used powder has to be inves-
tigated in order to reach conductivity threshold through surface
contacts between particles (Merritt et al., 2005).
Figure 6 illustrates different structure of produced conductive
fibers.
Another method for obtaining conductive fibers is coating
them with certain metal salts like copper sulfide and copper
iodide, as they are easily processable using ordinary textile
technology. However, only low conductivities can be gained. A
range of fibers like nylon, polyester, wool, and acrylic have been
used for antistatic applications such as carpets. Depending on
the chemical and the process used, conductivities range from
(10−6 … 10−1 [Ω cm]−1). White metal compounds are low reactive
and thus useful for bi-component fiber manufacturing. A typical
structure is cell-core or side-by-side bicomponent structure. A
typical benefit of the solution is markedly textile fiber-like prop-
erties with reasonable conductivity. Conductivities range from
(10−10 … 10−8 [Ω cm]−1) with nylon and polyester (Mattila, 2006)
Figure 6. Different structures of conductive produced fibers. Importantly, according to the material used, there are different
electrical properties which is shown in Table 1 from copper (Cu)
intact textile characteristics of the fabric coated with PPy were and silver-plated copper (Cu/Ag) filaments, brass (Ms) and sil-
protected and improved, whereas the characteristics of the fabric ver-plated brass (Ms/Ag) filaments, aluminum (Al) filaments to
coated with PAni were inferior. The resistance values of the cotton copper-clad aluminum (CCA) filaments (Elektrisola Feindraht
fabrics coated with PAni and PPy were found to be 350 and 512 Ω, AG, 2014).
respectively, whereas the bare fabric had a resistance value higher Swiss-Shield Company (Flums, Switzerland) specializes in
than 109 Ω. The average electromagnetic shielding efficiency and manufacturing metal monofilaments which are integrated into
average absorption values of the cotton fabrics coated with PAni, base yarns like cotton, polyester, polyamides, and aramides. The
PPy, and bare fabric were determined to be 3.8 dB and 48%, 6 dB metal monofilaments are made out of copper, brass, bronze, sil-
and 50%, 0.26 dB and 2%, respectively (Onar et al., 2009). ver, gold, and aluminum. Figure 7 shows a typical conductive
yarn with base fibers and a metal monofilament twisted around
them (Spoerry & Co AG, S.S., 2014).
Conductive fibers
Some disadvantages of conductive fibers like their brittle
Electrically conductive fibers can be classified into two general property that can abrade the spinning equipment, their high
categories, those that are naturally conductive and those that price, five times heavier than some textile fibers, and their unde-
are specially treated to create conductivity. Naturally conductive sired touch of produced fabrics caused more attention to turn

Table 1. Electrical properties of metal monofilament fibers.

Thermal coefficient resistance (10−6 K−1)

Metal type Conductivity (S m/mm ) 2
Resistivity (Ω mm /m)
2
Min Type Max
Cu 58.5 0.0171 3900 3930 4000
Cu/Ag 58.5 0.0171 3900 4100 4300
Ag 99% 62.5 0.0160 3800 3950 4100
Ms* 70 16.0 0.0625 1400 1500 1600
Ms/Ag 16.0 0.0625 1400 1500 1600
AgCu 57.5 0.0174 3800 3950 4100
Bronze 7.5 0.1333 600 650 700
Steel 304 1.4 0.7300 1020
Steel 316L 1.3 0.7500 1020
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  635

Figure 7. Schematic of conductive fiber twisted with the normal fibers.

towards carbon fibers. Carbon fibers are in many ways compa- fibers, terms used indistinctly within the literatures (Behabtu
rable with the metal fiber and discussed under the same title. et al., 2013; Motta et al., 2005; Zhu et al., 2002), wherein an elec-
Their conductivity is about (105–102 [Ω cm]−1). The conductiv- trical conductive fiber must have an insulating coating to be of
ity properties are highly dependent on the molecular structural use. Because the hydrophobic nature of CNTs and the small diam-
orientation in the CNT and number of the walls (Anderson, eter of the fibers, typically between 20 and 30 μm, most of the
2002). CNTs are considered the most promising candidates to polymers used for coating purposes do not have affinity for CNTs.
replace Cu and Al in a large number of electrical, mechanical, Alvarez, in 2014, coated CNT fibers uniformly dipping these
and thermal applications (Alvarez et al., 2014). fibers into a polymer (such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC)) solution,
Loading of 3 wt-% of CNT in plastic leads to conductivities and pulling out the polymer coated yarn at a constant speed.
around 10−6 [Ω cm]−1. Recently, polymer composite CNT yarns The polymer coating serves to electrically insulate the fiber,
and even nanofiber having a CNT core structure has been pro- which can then be applied as a conducting component in many
duced. Future research will be related to manufacturing mechan- devices. Moreover, the coating also protects CNT threads from
ically and electrically high-performing fibers from nanotubes mechanical tearing upon contact. The success of this approach
having properties similar to metal or better (Sun, Zussman, to electrical insulation is confirmed by manufacturing a two-
Yarin, Wendorff, & Greiner, 2003). ply conducting micro cable, which is used in a simple circuit
Assembling CNT fibers into useful materials is challeng- with a battery, powered light-emitting diode (LED). This coating
ing and causes limitations in the use of these nanomaterials. approach is simple, scalable, and allows us to precisely modify
Researchers devised exclusive methods of assembling specific the thickness of the coating (Alvarez et al., 2014).
or bundled CNTs into macroscopic fibers (Lu, Zu, Byun, Kim, There are two different fabrication methods for the nano-
& Chou, 2012), including: gas phase spinning (Li, Kinloch, & tube-based nanocomposites: solvent casting and melt mixing.
Windle, 2004), liquid phase spinning (Behabtu et al., 2013), dry Solvent casting method has been applied for fabrication of
spinning (Zhang, Atkinson, & Baughman, 2004), electrospin- MWNT. In this way, a suspension of MWNT in polystyrene
ning (Imaizumi et al., 2011), and variations in these techniques (PS) using toluene has been prepared and after sonication and
(Kozlov et al., 2005). Each technique has unique advantages and evaporation of the solvent, nanotube/polymer nanocomposite
disadvantages, however, none of these methods has yet produced with enhanced elastic modulus and break stress will remain
fibers or yarns with the similar properties as individual CNTs. (Qian, Dickey, Andrews, & Rantell, 2000). Another research
Between the mentioned methods, gas phase fiber spinning using this method has been done in order to fabricate elec-
method is commonly used in CNT fiber mass manufacturing trically conductive nanocomposites by dispersing SWNT and
process which can produce CNT fibers without interruption and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in toluene (Benoit, Benoit,
is initially reported by Zhu et al. (2002) and Motta, Li, Kinloch, Lefrant, & Chauvet, 2001), during this fabrication method it has
and Windle (2005). Unfortunately, the catalyst nanoparticles been found that nanotubes tend to agglomerate through solvent
generated during this process act as a contaminant, reducing ­evaporation, which leads to inhomogeneous nanotube distribu-
fiber purity, interrupting the structure, and lowering the tensile tion in the ­polymer matrix (Gogotsi, 2010). This problem caused
properties of the as-spun material (Lashmore, 2012). researchers uses the new method (melt mixing) using elevated
In wet spinning CNT fibers, CNTs are dispersed in solvents, temperatures and high shear forces to disrupt the nanotube bun-
sometimes using additives and others are dispersed in acids. dles. In this way, nanocomposite is made of 1 wt% of SWNT/
CNTs dispersed in strong acids were used to spin highly conduct- polypropylene (PP) by melt mixing method, but the problem is
ing CNT fibers (Davis et al., 2009). Dry spinning from spinnable that using this method uniform nanotube dispersion will not be
vertically aligned (VA) CNT forests is also conventional, because achieved (Bhattacharyya et al., 2003). For solving this problem,
of its facile approach of fiber spinning directly from as-grown Haggenmueller for the first time used combined methods of sol-
CNT arrays (Jayasinghe, Chakrabarti, Schulz, & Shanov, 2011). vent casting and melt mixing for SWNT/PMMA/dimethylfor-
This method is first reported by Jiang et al., allows the preparation mamide composites with considerable improvement in nanotube
of CNT fibers with aligned CNT bundles, and reduces metal nan- dispersion by sonication. After drying, the nanocomposite film
oparticle contaminants within the yarn (Jiang, Li, & Fan, 2002). exhibited heterogeneous nanotube dispersion when subjected to
There are many applications under study, especially within optical microscopy (Haggenmueller, Gommans, Rinzler, Fischer,
electronic devices and sensors, the CNT threads, yarns, and & Winey, 2000).
636 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Figure 8. (a) Stainless steel and polyester thread (b) 100% stainless steel thread.

Additionally, these properties make metallic yarns very talented

for mass producing interactive electronic textiles (Orth & Rehmi
Post, 1997).
Figure 10 shows the conductive fabric which is made in 2003
by wrapping copper (Cu) fiber around polyester yarn. The cop-
per threads have a diameter of 40 μm and are insulated with a
polyesterimide coating. This yarn is used in woven plain fabrics
and has different applications (Cottet et al., 2003).
Working on analytical equation in order to model the resistiv-
ity of obtained network from fabrics made by conductive yarns
has been done by several researches, in the field of woven fabrics.
Anuj Dhawan, in 2004, has worked on interconnects at cross-
Figure 9. Micrograph of metallic silk organza. over points and he found that resistance welding is effective in
producing efficient and uniform crossover point interconnects
as well as disconnects (Dhawan, Seyam, Ghosh, & Muth, 2004).
Conductive yarns
Another research is done for knitting fabrics. Hui Zhang, in 2005,
Conductive yarn can be produced by conductive polymer or stated this kind of fabrics exhibit high flexibility and comfort
metallic fibers which are spun with natural or standard synthetic and this property make them a proper candidate for applications
fibers or are created by wrapping and can be used in the nor- in sports, medicine, and other areas that incorporate electronic
mal textile processes of embroidery, knitting, and weaving (Van devices. He tried to model the resistivity of stitches in knitted
Langenhove & T.T. Institute, 2007). A spun thread developed fabrics made from conductive yarns (Zhang, Tao, Wang, & Yu,
from steel and polyester fibers is shown in Figure 8(a), while a 2005). Lili and Wai Man, in 2010, based on the high demand
100% stainless steel thread is illustrated in Figure 8(b) (Bekaert for rapid prototype designing of smart knitwear, modeled the
Fiber Technologies, 2001; Dina, 2002). complex resistive network which is shown in Figure 11 for a given
Very small quantities of inorganic fibers are spun into staple set of conductive stitches by analytical equation (Li et al., 2010).
yarns. Asbestos is used minimally because of well-reported asso-
ciated health problems; glass, basalt, and metal fibers are used
Conductive coating
largely in filament form or as nonwovens, but small quantities
of staple yarns are produced from metal fibers on conventional Conductive coatings can be applied to the surface of fibers, yarns,
spinning systems and have applications in the areas of conductive or fabrics in order to produce electrically conductive textiles.
fabrics and some protective clothing (Lawrence, 2010). Wrapping This method is suitable for use on many fiber types and produces
method is believed to have originated in India; decorative fab- good conductivity without considerably changing existing sub-
rics developed from metallic yarns have been produced since the strate properties such as density, flexibility, and handle. Common
mid-eighteenth century. One example of this technology is shown textile coating processes include electroless plating, evaporative
in Figure 9 that a finely woven silk fabric is prepared from two deposition, sputtering, coating the textile with a conductive pol-
kinds of yarns, the warp is a plain silk yarn and the weft is a silk ymer and printing conductive inks (Dina, 2002).
yarn wrapped in a thin copper foil or thread with the conductiv-
ity of about 0.1 Ω/cm (Post, Orth, Gershenfeld, & Russo, 2000). Conductive inks
The copper thread makes over the silk yarn into a highly Interactive electronic textiles can also be created using conduc-
conductive yarn with a silk core. The physical characteristic of tive inks. In solids, the ability of electrons to act as charge carriers
the silk core provide the total yarn high tensile strength and depends on availability of vacant electronic states. This allows the
a tolerance for high temperatures, permitting it to be sewn or electrons to increase their energy (i.e. accelerate) when an electric
embroidered on industrial machinery without being damaged. field is applied. This condition is only satisfied in the conduction
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  637

Figure 10. (a) Woven fabric with metal fibers and (b) fabric cross section.

Figure 11. A lump resistor model represents a unit conductive loop knitted with conductive yarns.

band and electrical conductivity of a solid depends on its capa- ink, silver is well known for its excellent conductivity and
bility to flow electrons from valence band to conduction band. its antimicrobial effects. Recently, using silver nanoparticles
Conduction materials include metals, electrolytes, superconduc- in preparing conductive inks is demanded to increase the
tors, semiconductors, plasmas, and some nonmetallic conductors possibility for miniaturization of electronic elements by
such as graphite and conductive polymers. Electrical conductiv- reducing the dimensions of elements. In this way several
ity in metals is a result of the movement of electrically charged techniques such as thermal plasma processing have been
particles. The atoms of metal elements are characterized by the applied (Lee, Oh, & Park, 2007). Moscicki, in 2005, used
presence of valence electrons – electrons in the outer shell of nanosilver particles in order to make polymer composite
an atom that are free to move about. It is these “free electrons” ink and printed a line or “points” with the Ink-Jet method to
that allow metals to conduct an electric current. Because valence make electricity conductors or contacts in electronic assembly
electrons are free to move and they can travel through the lattice (Moscicki, Felba, Sobierajski, & Kudzia, 2005). Khanna, P.K.,
that forms the physical structure of a metal (Kittel & Paul, 2005). in 2008, used thermal decomposition method to synthesize
Conductive inks must contain an appropriate highly conduc- silver nanoparticles and use in different application by Ink-
tive metal precursor such as Ag, Cu, and Au nanoparticles (NPs) Jet technique. As shown in Figure 12, this method is based on
and a carrier vehicle. Most of carrier vehicles are water based: decomposition of silver salt (silver alkanoate) of fatty acid at
water is the main ink component and to limit contaminants, it high temperature in inert atmosphere. Silver salt is obtained as
must be as pure as possible. There are several technologies that can the result of the reaction of silver nitrate and fatty acid dissolved
print conductive material on different substrate and the produced in sodium hydroxide water solution (Khanna, Kulkarni, & Beri,
conductive ink must be suitable in viscosity and surface tension 2008).
for the technology that it is going to be used (Stassi et al., 2014). By thermal decomposition of silver alkanoate in nitrogen
Companies such as Creative Materials Incorporated, DuPont, atmosphere at 250 °C, stable silver nanoparticles with narrow
Methode Electronics Incorporated, Motson, and Think and Tinker size distribution could be obtained (Nagasawa, Maruyama,
Limited currently produce and sell conductive inks (Dina, 2002). Komatsu, Isoda, & Kobayashi, 2002). Recently another reaction
is suggested, in this technique, fatty acid dissolved in non-polar
Conductive inks made of silver powders. Among the metal and slowly evaporating solvent (for example 1-octadecene) at
powders which are applicable for producing conductive 210 °C (Shim, Lee, Young, Kwi Jong, & Jaewoo, 2008). Both
638 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Figure 12. Schematic of the thermal decomposition synthesis of the stable silver nanoparticles with fatty acid coated.

reactions give silver powder composed of strongly aggregated resistivity below 100 × 10−9 Ωm. However, the interface between
ligand-­stabilized AgNPs with narrow size distribution. However, the metal and polymeric/textile substrates needs more research
annealing temperature strongly affects the size of the final prod- and testing to improve adhesion of the conductive material.
uct and stabilization of nanoparticles in solvent. Preparation of Elastic textile materials showed not to be suitable flexible sub-
silver ink requires dissolving the synthesized silver powder in strates for thin film deposition. The low stiffness conducts to
non-polar organic solvent (usually n-tetradecane). Tracks printed localized elongations of the thin deposited films making the sam-
using such ink become conducive after sintering at 240–250 °C ples non-conductive. It is desirable that electronics in textiles
for 30 min (Puchalski, Kowalczyk, Klusek, & Olejniczak, 2010). conform to the inherent textile properties which are flexibility
Print quality and efficiency depends on viscosity of the ink used. and conformability. Both of these can be fulfilled by the PVC
The best viscosity for inkjet applications is obtained 2.3–4.4 mPas coated materials (Carvalho, Lacerda Silva, & Gonçalves, 2013).
(Malik, Kadian, & Kumar, 2005).
Sputtering. The sputtering process also includes a vacuum
Coating methods chamber; the coating material throws out atom by atom and
Electroless plating. Electroless plating includes submerging is collected on the surface of the fabric. This process creates
the substrate in an electroless plating solution. After a while, a a uniform thin coating with good adhesion to the substrate.
uniform metal coating will appear on the surface of textile. This The sputtering coating process is about 1/10 of the speed of
is because of chemical reactions between the reducing agent evaporative deposition. Presently, the main applications for
in the solution and the metal ions. Various types of metals can this coating process are textiles for military and aerospace
also be used for electroless plating such as nickel and copper applications (Siefert, 1993).
which are the most popular types in this method. The main Jang, in 2007, developed performance of textile in electrocar-
disadvantage of electroless plating is the expense due to the diogram (ECG) electrodes by Cu-sputtered polyester fabric. To
high cost of the reducing agent used in the plating solution make Cu-sputtered fabrics for ECG electrodes, Cu-sputtering
(Vaskelis, (1991)). was performed on water-resistant nylon fabrics in a vacuum
Thilagavathi, in 2014, prepared electrically conductive polyes- chamber by applying a high voltage across a low-pressure argon
ter fabrics by electroless copper plating method. These fabrics are gas. To measure ECG, 1.5 cm × 3 cm textile electrodes were
used to develop the textile electrodes for electroencephalogram prepared to be placed on both wrists and on the right ankle,
(EEG) measurement. The structural studies by SEM and XRD replacing conventional AgCl electrodes. Generally, the signal
show that the crystalline region of fabric structure is not affected pattern of AgCl and Cu-sputtered textile electrodes was similar.
by the plating and a very uniform deposition of copper on the However, Cu-sputtered electrodes showed a wider voltage range
fabrics is observable. The acquired signals were compared with due to a wider contact area of the textile electrodes than the
commercially available electrodes and the signals were found to 1-cm-diameter AgCl electrodes (Cho, 2010).
be similar (Thilagavathi & Natarajan, 2014).
Printing. Printing technique is reasonably priced in
Evaporative deposition. Evaporative deposition includes comparison with other introduced coating methods.
a vacuum chamber where a fabric enters and inside pressure Conductive printing depends on ink penetration to the substrate
accommodates the substrate. The coating metal is evaporated and is optimized when it remains mostly on the surface, not
and the fabric is exposed to the vaporized metal where it being dispersed into the internal structure of the substrate and
condenses on the surface and changes to a solid forming the it is highly related to micro pores distributed over the surface
coating. Various types of metals can be used for this method of fabric. Therefore, flat and smooth surfaces in high-density
such as aluminum. This process can produce extremely thin fabrics woven with fine synthetic filament yarns, such as nylon
coatings for lower levels of conductivity or relatively thick taffeta, are more desired for this technique (Karaguzel et al.,
coatings for higher required conductivity. Research is being 2007). Most challenges in this case are related to the durability of
conducted to develop relatively thin highly conductive coatings printed patterns due to cracking or peeling which occurs in the
to create highly conductive lighter weight fabrics (Smith, 1988). ink layer. Consequently, a protective nonconductive dielectric
Carvalho, in 2013, has used physical vapor deposition (ther- layer is necessary to be coated on these surfaces in order to
mal evaporation) method in order to deposit a thin layer of guarantee a long and efficient working life of conductive prints
aluminum (300 nm thick) on several textile substrates with and protected against an electrical short circuit and mechanical
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  639

Figure 13. Printed conductive tracks structure.

damage (see Figure 13). Typical conformal coatings are made for use in wide-band applications of e-textiles. This method has
from silicone, polyurethane, epoxy, or acrylic resin with simple manufacturing process without adding complexities that
different degrees of protection, performance, and application. would increase production costs (Merritt et al., 2005). Seulki,
Between them polyurethane coating save conductive prints in 2009, continued using this method and searched on P-FCB
from losing electrical conductivity after several cycles of (Planar Fashionable Circuit Board) which is made by screen
mechanical agitation (Suh, Carrolla, Grantb, & Oxenhama, printing technology and investigated electrical characteristics
2012). of passive devices such as resistor, capacitor, and inductor in
There are different methods for printing conductive inks on P-FCB. It was found that DC resistance is decreased in higher
the surface of fabrics such as: gravure, flexographic, rotary and annealing temperature or in longer time of that but these men-
flat screen-printing technologies, ink jet printing (Dina, 2002). tioned conditions can deform the fabric. Therefore, it must be
optimized (Lee, Kim, & Yoo, 2009).
Gravure printing. Gravure printing technology is based on Yongsang Kim, in 2010, applied this method on various types
using engraved metal rollers for each color of ink that are fed of fabrics with conductive ink (viscosity: 252 poise) with the
to these rollers and the excess ink is removed from the roller minimum pattern width of 0.2 mm while for gold sputtering is
surface by a doctor blade. As the substrate comes in contact with reported 0.1 mm. The typical sheet resistance was 134 mΩ/sq. He
the engraved roller, the ink transfers to the substrate and creates fabricated capacitors of 1pF–1nF and inductors of 500nH–1H at
the print. Purchasing and maintaining this large inventory of 10 MHz. Bonding and packaging of silicon chip directly on the
print rollers is expensive (Miles, 1994). fabric circuit board were planned and their mechanical prop-
erties were investigated. The ac impedance of the transmission
Flexographic printing. Flexographic printing is also a roller line was 201–215 Ω with <7.4% variation and the time-domain
printing method in which the rollers are covered in rubber reflectometry profile showed that the −3 dB frequency of the
or a composite molding and carry the design in relief. This printed transmission line of 15 cm on the fabric was 80 MHz. A
method is cheaper than gravure printing in regards to both complete system composed of a fabric capacitor sensor input, a
machinery and roller costs. However, ink costs are significantly controller system-on-a-chip, and an LED array display is imple-
higher, because of more required loading of inks to achieve the mented on the fabric and its operation is demonstrated success-
proper shade depth on textile substrates. Also this method is fully (Karaguzel, Tafreshi, & Pourdeyhimi, 2008).
frequently slower and is appropriate for uncomplicated designs Kazani, in 2012, Screen printed silver inks on the surface of
(Miles, 1994). woven fabrics made of different materials such as cotton, viscose,
polyamide, polyester, cotton/polyester, and polyester/viscose and
Screen printing. Traditional method for making patterns on it was found that the electro-conductive textiles obtained from
the screen was coating polyester screen mesh with polymer this method are washable and proper for PCBs (Printed circuit
which is photosensitive and exposing it to UV light through boards), RFID tags (Radio-frequency identification) (Kazani
the color separation positive film and then washing out the et al., 2012).
polymer from the unexposed area. Nowadays, it is possible to Minyoung Suh, in 2012, designed a spiral inductor and screen
use CAD data to drive the screen-making process (Dawson & printed on the denim, broadcloth, and jersey fabric substrates
Hawkyard, 2000). Many researchers have used this method to in order to use as an antenna. Although the electrical perfor-
make conductive tracks on the surface of fabrics and found that mance in printed antennas decreases after the protective coating
there are some factors affecting printability such as ink viscosity, was applied, protective coating is necessary to develop a fabric
mesh count, and squeegee hardness. Higher viscosity prevents antenna for wearable applications since it saves antennas from
ink from spreading over the fabric surface and form thicker ink physical destruction or malfunction through the wearing pro-
layer. Lower mesh count deposit more ink, while a higher mesh cess. Between coating materials the increase in resistivity was
count screen creates an image of higher resolution. A softer significantly low with polyurethane coating (Suh et al., 2012).
squeegee or repeated printing leaves a thicker ink deposit. Ewa Skrzetuska, in 2014, used graphene and carbon nano-
The thick ink layer is beneficial to electrical performance but tubes to introduce chemical sensing properties into textile
disadvantageous to mechanical performance (Suh, 2011). materials. The unique properties of graphene, such as the high
Merritt, in 2005, had used the technologies used in the poly- elasticity, mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, very high
mer thick film industry and applied them to nonwoven textiles electrical conductivity, and transparency, make them an inter-
project in order to determine the suitability of this approach esting material for stretchable electronic applications. Carbon
640 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Figure 14. Microstructure of silver Ink (Perelaer et al., 2006).

nanotubes and graphene pellets (3%) were dispersed in water The conventional approach to sinter metal NPs is heating.
and used as a printing paste in the screen printing process on High surface-to-volume ratio of nanosized particles decreases
the surface of twill woven cotton fabric. It has been found that their melting temperatures. There are various sintering meth-
the addition of graphene to printing paste that contains carbon ods: thermal (Felba et al., 2009a), photonic, microwave, plasma,
nanotubes significantly enhances the electrical conductivity and electrical (Allen et al., 2008), and chemically triggered. The most
sensing properties of the final product (Skrzetuska, Puchalski, important point in applying various sintering methods is to avoid
& Krucińska, 2014). destructive heating of polymeric substrates, which are flexible
substrates and therefore have a great applications in e-textiles
Ink jet printing. Inkjet printing is one of the most potential (Kamyshny, 2011).
techniques by which the circuit components can be ultimately Curing temperature and time have significant effect on
coated onto the substrate in one step. A lot of R&D work is being the performance of printed media. As the curing temperature
done to improve it further, as it is a clean and environment- increases above 150 °C, the resistivity of printed media stabilizes
friendly process which reduces printing time and costs by at the low level around this curing temperature. The resistiv-
increasing productivity of pre-production in printing process. ity largely decreases after a certain period of curing time, but
There are three mechanisms in which all inkjet printers follow extended time above that point does not improve the conduc-
one of these structures (Tyler, 2005): tivity (Perelaer et al., 2006).
As nonwovens can also be produced more cost effectively than
• Dot on Demand (DOD) or Impulse Print Heads which woven or knitted fabrics, Karaguzel, in 2008, evaluated the ink
delivers a drop of ink when there is a demand and is avail- jet printing technique and studied the outcomes of jetting micro
able in three kinds of heads: thermal – piezo – electrostatic droplets on nonwoven materials. It was found that in drop for-
• Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ) Heads: a continuous jet of ink mation process (using a glycerol-in-water solution), initially the
emerge from the nozzle and make stream of droplets in liquid pulls out of the nozzle. This is followed by a liquid exten-
a very short time. These movements of droplets are man- sion through the nozzle. Then the liquid breaks up into two parts,
aged electrostatically. a primary drop and a satellite (see Figure 15). For preventing the
• Pulsed Ink Jet Heads: a hybrid between DOD and satellite merges and inaccurate patterns the droplet velocity has
Continuous jetting. Stream of droplets eject based on to be adjusted by determining proper pulse amplitude and the
requested pulses.
dwell times (Karaguzel et al., 2008).
Dearden, in 2005, used this method for printing silver Depositing microdroplets on high-SVF (Solid Volume
conductive ink on the surface and high temperature (around Fraction) nonwovens will make bigger contact angle and lower
200 °C and long heating time about an hour) treatment had penetration on the surface in comparison with low-SVF sub-
been done after printing process in order to achieve conductive strates (Karaguzel et al., 2007). It will create continuous traces
tracks. As shown in Figure 14, the homogeneous surface of on the surface with proper conductivity but with low protec-
printed silver traces changes into the locally crystallized struc- tion against wash ability and durability. Therefore, optimization
ture after the heat treatment (Perelaer, de Gans, & Schubert, in solid volume fraction in order to gain best conductivity and
2006). This is because of rapid evaporation of solvent which durability is necessary (Karaguzel & N.C.S. University, 2006).
limits the movement of silver particles and results in localized Jung-Tang Wu, in 2009, has used ethylene glycol vapor reduc-
crystal growth. To form a conductive printed pattern, conduc- tion approach to fabricate conductive silver tracks directly from
tive particles must be sintered to create continuous connectivity silver nitrate solution by ink-jet printing (see Figure 16). The
and thus percolated paths. Sintering is a process of welding silver nitrate precursor can be reduced in ethylene glycol vapor to
particles together at temperatures below their melting point form silver at low temperatures. The final resistivity was obtained
(Kamyshny, 2011). 7.41 × 10−6 Ω cm (Wu, Hsu, Tsai, & Hwang, 2009).
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  641

Figure 15. Schematic of the drop-on-demand ink jet print head system and drop formation steps.

Bidoki, in 2007, used inkjet printing technique to chemically

deposit silver nanoparticles (10–200 nm) simply by ejection of
silver nitrate and reducing solutions onto the surface of paper.
In this way a standard office ink-jet thermal-head printer (300
dpi) has been used and successfully deposited layers of silver
with high electrical conductance up to 1.89 × 105 S m−1 and
sheet resistance up to 0.5 Ω/sq has been formed (Bidoki et al.,
2007). This research has been continued for printing silver pat-
terns to work as circuit components like conductor, resistor,
capacitor, and inductor on different substrates such as paper,
PET plastic film, and textile fabrics. Different levels of conduc-
tivity were achieved simply by changing the printing sequence,
inks ratio, and concentration. The highest level of conductivity
achieved was 5.54 × 105 S m−1 on paper. Inkjet deposited capac-
itors could exhibit a capacitance of more than 1.5 nF (parallel
Figure 16. Experimental setup of the ethylene glycol vapor reduction. plate 45 × 45 mm2) and induction coils displayed an inductance
of around 400 μH (planar coil 10 cm in diameter) (Bidoki, Nouri,
& Heidari, 2010) (Figure 17).
Jan Felba, in 2009, has used ink-jet printing technique for
printing nanosilver sized particles and he added different quan- Plasma
tities of some polymer materials made from natural components Plasma coating is the electrochemical process of polymer dep-
for improving mechanical parameters of printed materials. osition on the fiber surface. The result is the formation of a
Finally, it has been declared that adding these polymers up to uniform layer of controlled thickness which can be obtained
1.5% of total mass of the ink do not influence significantly elec- from variable polymer structure and properties (Kim & Mai,
trical parameters of the printed layers. The polymer may link 1998). Plasma treatments of textiles, especially in the last 10
fixedly nanosilver particles with substrates and it isolates from air years, have been extensively studied. One of the modifications
surfaces simultaneously and moisture, making up the protection is related to electrical properties in different issues such as using
(Felba et al., 2009b). artificial or synthetic polymers for antistatic properties and also

Figure 17. Inkjet deposited inductor and capacitors.

642 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Table 2. Range of resistivity for different kind of materials.

Kind of material Superconductors Typical metal conductors Semiconductors Insulators
Resistivity (Ωm) <10−25 ~10−8 10−4 … 1010 1010 … 1020

ampere when 1 volt is connected across it. According to Ohm’s

law in equation 1 (Wadhwa, 2007):
R = potential difference (V )∕current (I). (1)
Ohm’s law is used in order to determine a resistance: R = V/I.
A known current is sourced and flows through the unknown
resistance. We measure the voltage that develops across the resist-
ance by dividing the measured voltage by the sourced current. A
problem that occurs when using a 2-wire setup is that the voltage
is measured not only across the resistance in question, but also
includes the resistance of the leads and contacts. When using
Figure 18. Circuit diagram of a four-contact measuring apparatus.
an ohm meter to measure resistances above a few ohms, this
added resistance is usually not a problem. However, when meas-
in creation of fabrics with very high conductive properties that is uring low resistances or when contact resistance may be high,
suitable for integrating electronic devices into fabrics (Shishoo & obtaining accurate results with a two wire measurement could
T. Institute, 2007). The demand for this case is rapidly growing for a be a problem and the solution is using 4-Point Measurements or
number of applications, such as electromagnetic shielding “Kelvin” measurement. Because a second set of probes is used for
materials, building materials, and smart textiles (Shishoo & sensing and since negligible current flows in these probes, only
T. Institute, 2007). Plasma treatments have been also used to the voltage drop across the device under test is measured. As a
promote compatibility with organic conductors, such as polyth- result, resistance measurement or I-V curve generation is more
iophene, polyaniline, and polypyrrole (Oh, Kim, & Kim, 2001). accurate (Hochberg & Foster, 2007).
Molina, in 2011, coated polyaniline on the surface of polyes- Table 2 shows that materials display an extremely wide range
ter fabrics. Chemical oxidation of aniline by potassium peroxy- of resistivity (Mattila, 2006):
disulfate on these surfaces has been used and plasma treatment Since the conductance is generally proportional to the area of
is applied to improve the durability of the coating. It has been the electrodes and inversely related to the distance between them,
proposed as an alternative to increase the adhesion between the is defined as one reciprocal ohm and the SI unit of conductance
fibers and the conducting polymer. This method creates reactive is the Siemens G = 1/R (Fan, 2005).
groups and radicals on the surface of the fabric. These groups An ammeter is an instrument used to measure current and
allow the formation of dipolar interactions, Van der Waals forces must be connected in series with the circuit. An ammeter must
or hydrogen bonds between the fabric and the coating, increasing be connected in series in circuit to measure the current flowing
the adhesion of the coating to the surface of the fabric (Molina, through it. Since all the current in the circuit passes through the
Esteves, Fernández, Bonastre, & Cases, 2011). ammeter it must have a very low resistance (Wadhwa, 2007).
The conductivity of the films provides a measure of the under-
lying microstructure since any discontinuities or anomalies aris-
Measurements ing from the deposition process would lower conductivity and a
Electrical measurements four-contact method was used in electrical assessment of films
(Soga, 1992). A circuit diagram of the four-contact apparatus
When there are more than two electrons in an atom the electrons which is designed and built is shown in Figure 18.
are arranged into shells at various distances from the nucleus. It is The electrical conductivity (σ) is a measure of how well a
possible for an atom to lose an electron and electrons that move substance passes electrical current and may be determined from
from one atom to another are called free electrons and such random the resistivity (ρ) which is the inverse of conductivity. Resistivity
motion can continue indefinitely by an electric pressure or voltage. may be determined through the equation 2:
Current is the rate of movement of charge and charge carrier species
can be many such as: electrons, holes, protons, and ions. Conductors 𝜌 = Vtw∕Il(Ωm), (2)
are materials that contain electrons that are loosely connected to the where V is the measured voltage, t is the sample thickness in
nucleus and can easily move through the material from one atom meters, w is the sample width in meters, l is the sample length
to another. All metals are conductors and some examples include in meters and I is the inputted current in amperes.
copper, aluminum, brass, platinum, silver, and gold.
For a continuous current to flow between two points in a
Electromagnetic shielding effectiveness measurement
circuit a potential difference or voltage, V, is required between
them. The flow of electric current is subject to friction. This fric- In recent years, conductive yarns have been considered for electro-
tion, or opposition, is called resistance R and is the property of a magnetic shielding purposes in different applications such as secu-
conductor that limits current. The unit of resistance is the ohm; rity, electrical, and electronic industries. This is mainly because
1 ohm is defined as the resistance which will have a current of 1 of their desirable properties in terms of flexibility, electrostatic
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  643

discharge, EMI protection, radio frequency interference protec- ECG, electromyography (EMG), and electroencephalography
tion, thermal expansion matching, and light weight (Paul, 1992). (EEG) sensing, fabrics incorporating thermocouples can be
In order to test and evaluate the electromagnetic shielding used for sensing temperature, luminescent elements integrated
effectiveness of conductive yarns, they should be altered to fabric in fabrics could be used for biophotonic sensing, shape-sensitive
form and the ASTM 4935 or ASTM ES7 standard test method fabrics can sense movement, and can be combined with EMG
can be used for EMSE measurement, as described below. sensing to derive muscle fitness. Carbon electrodes integrated
into fabrics can be used to detect specific environmental or bio-
Shielding effectiveness measurement (ASTM 4935) medical features such as oxygen, salinity, moisture, or contami-
A coaxial transmission line method specified in ASTM D4935-99 nants (Chiolerio & Stoppa, 2014).
is used to test the EMSE of conductive textile composites. The Typical examples are textiles that react to deformation like
specimen is prepared with the standard test size. The diameter pressure sensors and stretch sensors and measure body move-
of the outer ring of the specimen is 133 mm. Two specimens are ments, posture, or breathing. Further parameters that can be
required to be prepared for test, one for reference and another measured with textiles are, e.g., humidity and temperature
for load testing. Many researchers have described the setup and (Kirstein, Lawrence, & Troester, 2003).
testing process using a plane wave electromagnetic field in the Yongsang Kim, in 2010, applied a P-FCB technology to imple-
frequency range of 30 MHz to 1.5 GHz. The spectrum analyzer ment a complete system for continuous healthcare by sensing
and shielding effectiveness test fixture are used to measure the the humidity. It is composed of a fabric capacitor sensor input, a
EMSE (Chen, Lee, Lin, & Koch, 2007). controller system-on-a-chip, and an LED array display is imple-
mented on the fabric. The humidity has a great effect on the
Shielding effectiveness measurement (ASTM ES7) capacitance values of all types of capacitors. The capacitance
A coaxial transmission line method specified in ASTM ES7-84 is value goes up when humidity increases. When a water drop is
used to test the EMSE of the conductive textile composites. The detected by fabric sensor electrode, the controller chip senses the
specimen is prepared with the standard test size. The calibration variation in the capacitance value. Then, the LED light is on when
specimen for the coaxial tube should be flat and washer-shaped the capacitance value is over the programmed threshold value
with an outer diameter of 99.75 mm and an inner diameter of as shown in Figure 19 (Yongsang, Hyejung, & Hoi-Jun, 2010).
43.70 mm. Its thickness is approximately 3 mm. It should be cov- Izabella Krucińska, in 2014, worked on using multi-walled
ered on one side with a gold film having a resistance of 5 ± 2 Ω. carbon nanotubes in order to make chemical sensors directly on
A pair of Teflon rings used as a sample holder and a calibration textile surfaces in the form of conductive transmission parts using
ring. The pair of Teflon rings with low dielectric property is to the screen-printing technique. Carbon nanotubes show actual
hold the flexible textile fabric to assure good contact to the spec- chemo-sensory properties because the chemical agent leads to
imen holder and a continuously conducting surface around the variations in electrical conductivity. The research concerned the
periphery of the specimen. The inner and outer edges should assessment of sensor efficiency for chemical incentives in the form
be coated with a commercial silver paint. The transmission test of selected fluids and their vapors. The best sensory properties
specimens should be flat and washer-shaped, machined from the were observed for polar vapor at a level of relative resistance over
material to be measured for shielding effectiveness identical to 40%. In the case of vapors of non-polar fluids the sensory reaction
the calibration specimen. The ASTM ES7-83 has described the of the printed fabrics is weaker at a level of relative resistance of
set-up and testing procedure using a plane-wave electromagnetic about 25%. The printed textile backings subjected to the influence
field in the frequency range of 30–1000 MHz. The network ana- of a fluid show an immediate reaction, while in the case of fluid
lyzer and a coaxial transmission line cell are used to measure the vapor the reaction occurs after a few seconds. Detection of the
EMSE (Chen et al., 2007). presence of dangerous chemical agents such as organic liquids
A transfer of electrical charge between bodies of different elec- and their vapor is possible by means of a structure composed of
trostatic potential in proximity or through direct contact may sensors (Krucińska, Skrzetuska, & Urbaniak-Domagała, 2014).
result in electrostatic discharge. Thus, the immunity is the ability Ewa Skrzetuska, in 2014, also worked on the modification of
of a device, equipment, or system to perform its function without printing pastes by the addition of carbon allotropes to be easily
degradation in the presence of an electromagnetic interference. used for textile sensors in chemical manufacturing plants where
A 12 kV discharge test is performed using a contact method. The the risk of vapor poisoning is high, as standalone sensors or as a
discharged electrode of the ESD generator is held in contact with part of protective clothing. As a substrate, a twill woven cotton
the test sample, and the discharge is actuated by a spark to the fabric was used and carbon nanotubes (3%) and graphene pellets
target plane (Chen, Lin, & Lee, 2008). (3%) were dispersed in water and used as a printing paste. The
experimental results on sensor properties with respect to the rec-
Essential parts in the intelligent textiles ognition of chemical stimuli demonstrated that these fabricated
sensors could be used periodically, after a specific relaxation
Smart textiles have been made for different applications which most time, differentiating them from disposable sensors (Karaguzel
of them are equipped with sensor and data transferring sections. et al., 2008).

Sensors Data transferring

Various kinds of sensors can be integrated to the fabrics which Figure 20 demonstrates a USB connection with conductive yarns
make it intelligent in order to be used in different fields such as in flexible webbing created by Foster-Miller, Inc., off ray Specialty
644 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Figure 19. System integration on P-FCB with capacitive sensor, photograph of the test measurement setup and measurement results. (a) LED off. (b) LED light-on with
water drop on the sensor.

structure is stretched. Conductive fabrics that are woven possess

better electrical performance, but bending of such an antenna
is limited (Mattila, 2006). Conductive textiles provide potentials
in signal transmission in addition to EMI shielding and power
supply. Textile transmission lines can be used to create a network
infrastructure in clothing and to connect different distributed
components of a wearable assistant (Cottet et al., 2003). Later
on different technical solutions have been introduced, ranging
from non-standard custom solutions to standards such as IEEE
802.11 (also known as WLAN) and bluetooth. These solutions
can be used to apply a personal area network (PAN) or home
area network (HAN) (Korhonen, Parkka, & Van Gils, 2003). PAN
or near-field wireless networks are emerging as an alternative to
combat the congested airwaves. PAN is considered the backbone
Figure 20. USB connection. of interactive electronic textile development and provides the
wireless technology which is necessary for that. PAN’s enables
electronic devices to exchange digital information, power, and
control signals within the users’ personal space. A PAN works
using the natural electrical conductivity of the human body to
transmit electronic data (Zimmerman, 1996).
Bluetooth is another wireless technology creating inter-
est in the interactive electronic textiles field. This technology
works using small radio modules. When two Bluetooth capable
devices are in range of one another a network is formed and
the electronic conversation happens automatically. Bluetooth
systems also establish a PAN so devices can switch frequen-
cies in unison so they can stay in touch with each other and
Figure 21. Textile bluetooth antenna.
avoid interface from other PAN’s operating in the same room
(see Figure 21).
Narrow Fabrics and the US Army Natick Soldier Center. This low Using Bluetooth for integrating on the fabric makes
profile, light, and flexible electronic textiles are revolutionary in healthy problems. Weavers will expose to two steady sources of
data transitions (Wilusz & T. Institute, 2008). emission or radiation which emission is generated from the wire-
Philips Research Laboratories, UK and Foster Miller, USA on less link between the electronic devices, while radiation is between
the International Interactive Textiles for the Warrior Conference the electronic device and the base-station. Researchers found an
(Boston, USA, 2002) presented a model of Integrating antennas option to restrict the range of the RF fields to the surface of the
into clothing (Van Langenhove & Hertleer, 2004). Klemm, in textile to avoid emission into the body. The Fabric Area Network
2004, developed antennas and designed for Bluetooth in the fre- (FAN) is another new wireless communications infrastructure to
quency range from 2400 to 2483.5 MHz. This design is created enable sensing and networking on interactive electronic textiles.
by printing micro strip antennas and consists of a three-layer The FAN can be easily implemented on textile substrates and uses
structure; electrically conductive fabrics act as ground plane wireless RF communication links to supply power to the elec-
and antenna patch and are separated with a fabric substrate. The tronic devices and in addition, restricting the RF fields also ena-
conductive fabric should have a homogeneous resistance. It is bles easy control over interference and data security (Hum, 2001).
reported that undesired effect of knitted fabric when it is used Not only information can be transmitted to the textile but also
in this application is a change of the sheet resistance when the energy is transmitted by ESAT-MICAS and Ghent University.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute  645

different field of medical application such as managing nursing

care, monitoring and diagnosis, delivery of drugs, surgical and
therapeutic treatments, and patient recovery. One of e-textiles
applications is approaching this goal (Van Langenhove & T.T.
Institute, 2007).

Monitoring vital signs

Georgia Institute of Technology, in 2000, made a T-shirt that
functions to monitor the wearer’s heart rate, EKG, respiration,
temperature, and other vital signs. The third and fourth generation
of this Smart Shirt which was made by Sensatex Incorporated in
2001 is illustrated in Figure 23. This T-shirt collects data from
Figure 22. Global revenue from smart wearables. different parts of the wearer’s body and directs the data to a small
transceiver device attached to the waist portion of the shirt. The
transceiver handles the processing, transmission, and display of
It has been done using an inductive link consisting of two coils the wearer’s vital signs. These collected information transfers to a
which provide wireless power transmission and bi-directional wireless gateway by the data management software platform. These
data transmission at a bit rate of 60 kbits/s simultaneously, platforms form a versatile framework for incorporating sensing,
500 mW from the base station to the suit at maximum coil sep- monitoring, and information processing devices for biomedical
aration of six centimeters (Catrysse, Puers, Hertleer, & Langen monitoring and wearable computing applications (Sensatex, 2001).
hove, 2004). Textronics Company has produced an engineered seamless
sports bra Numetrex whit incorporating silver-coated nylon with
Applications of conductive textiles cotton covered Lycra fabric. This bra contains integrated knitted
sensors in specific areas which detect heart rate directly through
The market for smart fabric and interactive textiles has been rap- the pressure of the knitted fabric in contact with the body (see
idly growing with the average growth rate of 20% for last decade. Figure 24) (Van Langenhove & T.T. Institute, 2007).
According to the British Chamber of Commerce, the value of 11
market for smart fabric and interactive textiles was about $299 Sickness distinguish. These monitoring vital signs can
million in 2009 (Cluster of EC Co-Financed Projects on Smart be useful for different applications such as for heart rate
Fabric Interactive Textile, 2010). Based on the full report of Nick monitoring in the exploration of cardiovascular diseases which
Hunn related to the Market for smart wearables in 2015–2020 ambulatory measurements are required. Heart rate variability
(Hunn, 2015)). shows CHF and cardiomyopathy and is likely to be a result
The value is around $600 million in 2013, it is accelerating. It of the profound abnormalities in autonomic function that
should reach just over $4 billion this year and exceed $14 billion characterize these patients (Binkley, 2003). Another function
in 2017, then double to reach $30 billion in 2020. Almost half of that can be measured is related to blood pressure. Patients with
that will probably come from companies that are not players in hypertension who fail to experience a drop in blood pressure
today’s consumer electronics market (see Figure 22). during nocturnal intervals have been found to have a greater
Popular applications of conductive textiles are listed as follow: risk for events such as stroke and greater end-organ damage,
such as renal dysfunction (Engin, Demirel, Engin, & Fedakar,
Medical applications 2005). Persistent rises in arterial pressure imply disturbance
in the complex and multifactorial cardiovascular control
Pressure of a growing world population and attempt for greater mechanisms. In this context, neurohumoral disturbances
longevity creating an urgent need for specific development in could play a special role, in view of the fact that they have

Figure 23. “Smart Shirt” textile platform.

646 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

designed which includes special sensors and interconnections

to monitor an individual’s vital body signals, and provides a
systematic way of controlling the vital signs of humans in an
unobtrusive manner (Park, Mackenzie, & Jayaraman, 2002).
In this way researches create smart garments which were able
to read and record the posture and movements of a subject
wearing it. One of these garments has been made by the threads
which are coated with polypyrrole or carbon-loaded rubbers.
The sensory function is based on strain sensors. The existence
of conductive elements gives these materials piezoresistive
properties, enabling the detection of local strain on the fabric
(Mazzoldi, de Rossi, Lorussi, Scilingo, & Paradiso, 2002).
Danilo De Rossi, in 2003, continued this research and made a
sensing leotard and glove with embedded carbon-loaded rubber
sensors. These smart garments record movements of the arms
and upper trunk as well as movements of the fingers. Figure 26
Figure 24. Numetrex sports bra.
shows that during a trunk flexion the resistance of sensors located
Source: Textronics.
in right and left sides would change in an opposite manner.
Rehabilitation, sport medicine, multimedia, and virtual reality
demonstrated that elevated sympathetic drive seems essential in are examples of potential fields of application (De Rossi et al.,
hypertensive patients. Parameters obtained by spectral analysis 2003).
of heart rate variability (HRV) might furnish useful information
on autonomic normal and abnormal nervous system regulation Health care
(Pagani & Lucini, 2001). Some parts of body needs keep warp for avoiding some of future
problems on that parts. For example a special garment has been
Patterns of movement. Neurological disorders such as designed for cold weather, WarmX® undershirt which is a knitted
Parkinson’s disease (PD) or hemiparetic stroke harshly affect sleeveless vest including two heated areas around the kidneys
motor functions. PD is the most general disorder of movement at the front and back, they used silver yarn coated polyamide,
influence at least three percent of the population over the age powered by a mobile phone sized 12 V battery. This battery can
of 65. In this case, a trustworthy quantitative tool is required be removed for washing (see Figure 27) (Van Langenhove & T.T.
for routine clinical care of patients as well as for trials of new Institute, 2007).
therapies. Binkey in 2003 researched in this case and stated Electric resistive heating is applied in this technology. In this
that it would be very useful to obtain information on a patient’s mechanism voltage is applied to a series of conductive yarns or
motor pattern during the course of several days and then relate wires, which resist the flow of current. As current passes through
this to the timing and dose of medications (Binkley, 2003). This them, heat is produced. The produced heat can be controlled by var-
can happen by constant monitoring of their physical condition ying the voltage to the resistive network (Wilusz & T. Institute, 2008).
by medical personnel in a non-invasive manner (see Figure 25) Intelligent Knee Sleeve is also created to protect knees. This
(Park & Jayaraman, 2003a). Therefore, special shirt has been lightweight fabric consists of disposable polymer-coated textile

Figure 25. Intelligent textiles in clinical and monitoring applications.

 The Journal of The Textile Institute  647

Figure 26. Flexion towards right from rest position (left) and output signals from the sensorized leotard (right).

carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This kind of threads can be used to

detect albumin, the key protein of blood, with high sensitivity
and selectivity. This innovation can be used to sense bleeding,
which in extreme situations may be impossible to detect by any
other method and which is of key importance for many high-
risk occupations such as surgeries (Shim, Wei Chen, Doty, Xu,
& Kotov, 2008).

Security and military

According to the Faraday’s cage principle using highly conductive
materials can protect measures against electromagnetic interfer-
Figure 27. WarmX vest. ence (EMC protection) that are related to security, for example
those of the authorities or military establishments, hospitals,
banks and computing centers (Albrecht, Fuchs, & Kittelmann,
2006). Very successful in this area are nonwovens treated with
conductive finishes (copper, silver or aluminum coating) or
using surface-modified fibers in nonwovens and woven fabrics,
such as copper or nickel coated polyacrylic or polyamide fibers,
fibers with external carbon coating or fibers modified with cop-
per sulfide. The room shielding system (Shieldex) is a nylon 66
nonwoven which is coated with copper in a special process. The
material is flexible, light, and breathable. The surface resistance
is 0.04 Ohm/m2. Shielding efficiency is achieved from 40 to over
80 dB in the frequency range from 4 MHz to 1 GHz (Albrecht
et al., 2006).
Interactive electronic textiles with integrated GPS can ensure
user safety and can potentially save lives which are involved in
emergency situations. Their location can be found quickly by
GPS. Philips Research Laboratories developed ski-suit with
Figure 28. The intelligent knee sleeve. a built-in electronic GPS for personal safety. The suit is also
equipped with a personal stereo system and temperature sensors
sensor that is placed over the patella (kneecap). The textile sensor, to allow the user to control heating of the suit. Other application
integrated into an appropriate electronic circuit (3 V), operates of this is related to locate and track children, provide added safety
as a textile strain gage and when the wearer bends their knee, for fire fighters, policemen, astronauts, and military personnel
sensor is stretched resistance within the textile sensor. At a pre- in the line of duty (Dina, 2002).
determined threshold resistance based on knee flexion angle, The drivers for the rapid current development of smart textiles
audible tone is emitted to alert the wearer that the desired knee have traditionally come from military research. The protection
flexion angle has been achieved (see Figure 28) (Wallace, Steele, of the individual in hostile environments, and the necessity for
Innes, Spinks, & Zhou, 2001). communication and monitoring have provided impetus for tex-
tile researchers into better and stronger soldiers includes the
Surgery development of integrated various sensing technologies (see
Shim, in 2008, integrated cotton threads (20 Ω/cm) into intel- Figure 29). Biofeedback can monitor a soldier’s vital signs to
ligent e-textiles using a polyelectrolyte-based coating with enhance endurance and overall health. Environmental sensing
648 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

Figure 29. Smart shirt in military application.

can detect enemies or potential biochemical threats, such as a In August of 2000, the first ICD+ (Industrial Clothing Design
woven conductive fabric with embedded button-size micro- Plus) introduced that comprised of four “wired” jackets com-
phones that detect the sound of remote objects such as approach- bined garment functionality with wearable electronics (see
ing vehicles. A microcontroller can algorithmically determine Figure 30).
the direction of the sound by comparing the sounds from each These jackets incorporate a communication system that con-
microphone (Berzowska, 2005). For this application light weight nects a mobile phone and MP3 player. The garment also has
and comfortable garment as they use for a long time in hard built-in speakers, a microphone, and a display. A PAN provides
conditions have to be considered. By using this technology for the backbone for connecting these electronics. Hidden inner
soldiers, information is wirelessly transmitted to the medical unit wiring and connectors in the fabric allow the devices to operate
on the battlefield so that a medic can attend to that particular by remote control. The devices and the control pad can be dis-
soldier. This will enhance the utilization of the scarce medical connected for washing process (Dina, 2002).
personnel in the battlefield because the medic can focus his atten- Levi’s Musical Jean Jacket developed by Massachusetts Institute
tion on those who can be saved (Park & Jayaraman, 2003b). of Technology (MIT) Media Lab involves a flexible and durable
embroidered fabric keyboard which is shown in Figure 31. It is
produced with a mildly conductive stainless steel and polyester
Fashion articles
composite thread using ordinary embroidery techniques. This
Fashion articles will carry keypads for mobile phones and keyboard is highly responsive to touch and turns an ordinary
connections for personal music systems (Mattila, 2006). More denim jacket into a wearable musical instrument that allows the
comfortable and practical devices such as eyeglass based com- wearer to play notes, chords, and rhythms (Dina, 2002).
munication systems, “smart shoes” that incorporate sensors to This technology is also developed by a New Zealand based
provide information on footstep force and velocity, and “smart textile research and development organization (WRONZ) and
undergarments” that can monitor heart rate and respiration electronic materials company (Peratech Limited of Darlington) in
(Dina, 2002). the United Kingdom. Figure 32 illustrates a jacket incorporating

Figure 30. ICD + Jacket by Phillips Electronic and Levi Strauss.

 The Journal of The Textile Institute  649

Figure 31. Embroidered fabric keypad in Levi’s musical jean jacket.

Figure 32. Softswitch jacket with a sleeve integrated textile keypad.

Figure 33. Softswitch remote control, softswitch light switch, softswitch pillow.

Softswitch technology. The textile keypads on the sleeve can be of a sofa, or light switches can be embedded into curtains, and
used to dial phone numbers, type pager messages, and play music pillows (see Figure 33) (Dina, 2002).
(Dina, 2002).
In addition to apparel, this technology is also being used to
Conclusion
develop many other innovative products such as interior textiles
for the home or office incorporating. It can be used to control Among flexible substrates, textiles represent a most proper sur-
lighting, temperature, or other electronic appliances. For exam- face for application in different field such as wearable bio-sensors.
ple, it is used to integrate a television remote control into the arm Electronic or smart textiles which are able to sense, compute,
650 M. Ghahremani Honarvar and M. Latifi

communicate, and actuate. As different kind of electronic sys- Bhattacharyya, A. R., Sreekumar, T. V., Liu, T., Kumar, S., Ericson, L. M.,
tems can be attached to any clothing, a wearable system becomes Hauge, R. H., & Smalley, R. E. (2003). Crystallization and orientation
studies in polypropylene/single wall carbon nanotube composite.
more versatile, and the user can change its look based on envi- Polymer, 44, 2373–2377.
ronmental changes and individual preference. Bidoki, S. M., Nouri, J., & Heidari, A. A. (2010). Inkjet deposited circuit
The idea of wearable computing describes electronic systems components. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 20,
which will be applicable in everyday clothing as an intelligent 055023.
personal assistant in the near future. Bidoki, S. M., et al. (2007). Ink-jet fabrication of electronic components.
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 17, 967.
Therefore, such wearable electronics must maintain their Binkley, P. F. (2003). Predicting the potential of wearable technology. IEEE
profession aim under the demands of normal wear, which Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, 22, 23–27.
can impose severe mechanical deformation of the underlying Carvalho, H., Lacerda Silva, N., & Gonçalves, L. (2013). Deposition of
garment/substrate. conductive materials on textile and polymeric flexible substrates.
One talented approach to reduce the rigidity of electronic Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 24(2), 635–643.
Catrysse, M., Puers, R., Hertleer, C., & Langen hove, L. V. (2004). Towards
textiles and improve its wearability is to replace PCBs by flexible the integration of textile sensors in a wireless monitoring suit. Sensors
electronics. and Actuators A: Physical, 114, 302–311.
In this review, we wanted to explain how it is possible to Chen, H. C., Lee, K. C., Lin, J. H., & Koch, M. (2007). Comparison of
develop a smart textile. Some methods show advantages with electromagnetic shielding effectiveness properties of diverse conductive
respect to others, but in our belief while some manufacturers textiles via various measurement techniques. Journal of Materials
Processing Technology, 192–193, 549–554.
are very experienced with electronics and others with textiles, Chen, H. C., Lin, J. H., & Lee, K. C. (2008). Electromagnetic shielding
very few do both well. effectiveness of copper/stainless steel/polyamide fiber co-woven-knitted
However, Smart textile is a new issue which its application fabric reinforced polypropylene composites. Journal of Reinforced
is vast in different fields and its benefits attract most of the Plastics and Composites, 27, 187–204.
researches concerns. Innovations and developments which has Chiang, C. K., Fincher, C., Park, Y. W., & MacDiarmid, A. G. (1978).
Electrical conductivity in doped polyacetylene. Physical Review Letters,
done till now in the field of smart textiles, is going to continue. 40, 1472–1472.
Current advances in textile technologies, new materials, nano- Chiang, C. K., Druy, M. A., Gau, S., & Shirakawa, H. J. (1978). Synthesis of
technology, and miniaturized electronics are making wearable highly conducting films of derivatives of polyacetylene, (CH)x. Journal
systems more feasible but the final key factor for user acceptance of the American Chemical Society, 100, 1013–1015.
of wearable devices is the fit comfort. Chiolerio, A., & Stoppa, M. (2014). Wearable electronics and smart textiles:
A critical review. Sensors, 14, 11957–11992.
We are hopeful for the revolution changes in textile and Cho, G. (Ed.). (2010). Smart clothing technology and applications.
human life by entrance of these products to the markets and Seoul: CRC Press.
having effective and wonderful roles in human daily life that this Cottet, D., Lab, E., Zurich, E., Grzyb, J., Kirstein, T., & Troster, G.
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Disclosure statement London: Springer.
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Davis, V. A., Parra-Vasquez, A. N. G., Green, M. J., Rai, P. K., Behabtu,
N., Prieto, V., … Pasquali, M. (2009). True solutions of single-walled
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