Chinese scientists have successfully developed a light-emitting fiber that does not require "plugging in" and uses common raw materials on the market.

Recently, Chinese scientists have successfully developed a new type of intelligent fiber that integrates functions such as wireless energy harvesting, information perception and transmission. The textiles woven from it can realize human-computer interaction functions such as luminous display and touch without relying on chips and batteries.

At present, the relevant research has been published in the journal Science, titled "Single body-coupled fiber enables chipless textile electronics".

The research was led by Donghua University as the only corresponding unit, with collaborating units including the National University of Singapore and Anhui Agricultural University. Yang Weifeng, a doctoral student at the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Donghua University, is the first author of the paper.

During the same period, Science also invited experts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to comment on and report on the results.

Officials said that the achievement is believed to have the potential to change the way people interact with the environment and with each other, and has important implications for the development of functional fibers and the application of smart textiles in different fields.

▲ Source: Donghua University

According to reports, the research proposed an energy interaction mechanism based on "human body coupling". Smart textiles made of this new type of smart fiber can achieve human-computer interaction functions such as luminous display and touch without relying on chips and batteries. This breakthrough has opened up new possibilities for intelligent interaction between humans and the environment and has broad application prospects.

Yang Weifeng said, "This new fiber has a three-layer sheath-core structure, and all the raw materials used are relatively common on the market. The core layer is a fiber antenna (silver-plated nylon fiber) that induces an alternating electromagnetic field, the middle layer is a dielectric layer (BaTiO3 composite resin) that improves the electromagnetic energy coupling capacity, and the outer layer is an electric field-sensitive luminescent layer (ZnS composite resin). The raw material cost is low, and the processing of fibers and fabrics can be achieved with mature processes, and it has the capacity for mass production."

The work also demonstrated several applications of this intelligent fiber based on the human body coupling principle: without using chips and batteries, it achieved functions such as fiber touch-controlled luminescence, fabric display, and wireless command transmission. Researcher Hou Chengyi said, "This new type of fiber can be used in daily textiles such as clothing, fabric decoration, etc. When they come into contact with the human body, they can perform visual sensing, interaction, and even high-brightness lighting through luminescence. At the same time, they can also generate unique wireless signals for different postures and movements of the human body, and then wirelessly remotely control electronic products such as smart home appliances. These novel functions are expected to expand the application scenarios of electronic products and even change the way people live their smart lives."