title: Intrinsically Stretchable and Conductive Textile by a Scalable Process for Elastic Wearable Electronics.
abstract: The prosperous development of stretchable electronics poses a great demand on stretchable conductive materials that could maintain their electrical conductivity under tensile strain. Previously reported strategies to obtain stretchable conductors usually involve complex structure-fabricating processes or utilization of high-cost nanomaterials. It remains a great challenge to produce stretchable and conductive materials via a scalable and cost-effective process. Herein, a large-scalable pyrolysis strategy is developed for the fabrication of intrinsically stretchable and conductive textile in utilizing low-cost and mass-produced weft-knitted textiles as raw materials. Due to the intrinsic stretchability of the weft-knitted structure and the excellent mechanical and electrical properties of the as-obtained carbonized fibers, the obtained flexible and durable textile could sustain tensile strains up to 125% while keeping a stable electrical conductivity (as shown by a Modal-based textile), thus ensuring its applications in elastic electronics. For demonstration purposes, stretchable supercapacitors and wearable thermal-therapy devices that showed stable performance with the loading of tensile strains have been fabricated. Considering the simplicity and large scalability of the process, the low-cost and mass production of the raw materials, and the superior performances of the as-obtained elastic and conductive textile, this strategy would contribute to the development and industrial production of wearable electronics.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.|Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics (CNMM), Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chunya
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.|Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics (CNMM), Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Mingchao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.|Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics (CNMM), Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Kailun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Opto-Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Electronic Science and Technology, Faculty of Information Technology, Beijing University of Technology , Beijing 100022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xueqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.|Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics (CNMM), Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.|Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics (CNMM), Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Opto-Electronics Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Electronic Science and Technology, Faculty of Information Technology, Beijing University of Technology , Beijing 100022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Baolu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.|Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics (CNMM), Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8448-3059
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: carbonized Modal fabric; stretchable conductors; supercapacitors; wearable electronics; weft-knitted