Smart fabrics get closer as U.S. researchers embed microscopic ‘nano’ copper threads.
Ohio State University researchers have begun putting circuits into fabric with 0.1 mm precision—the perfect size to integrate electronic components such as sensors and computer memory devices into clothing
The new threads are made with only seven filaments and each one is copper at the center enameled with pure silver. The threads are ‘embroided’ into the cloth based on a pattern loaded via a computer file.
The technology could lead to what’s called ‘e-textiles or ‘functional textiles’. In other words shirts that act as antennas for your smart phone, clothes monitoring your fitness, a smart bandage to tell how fast you’re healing and even a cap to sense brain activity.
Recently the two lead researchers refined their patented fabrication method to create prototype wearables at a fraction of the cost and in half the time as they could only two years ago.
“A revolution is happening in the textile industry,” Director of the ElectroScience Laboratory at Ohio State, John Volkakis, said.
“We believe that functional textiles are an enabling technology for communications and sensing—and one day even medical applications like imaging and health monitoring.”
See the full story: https://news.osu.edu/news/2016/04/13/computers-in-your-clothes-a-milestone-for-wearable-electronics/