Preparation and application of conductive fiber coated with liquid metal_Journal of Biomedical Engineering

Authors：

LIU Chengfeng ¹ , TANG Jiabo ¹ , LI Ming ¹ , ZHANG Shihao ¹ , ZOU Yang ^1,2 ,  LYU Yonggang ¹

1. State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, P. R. China;
2. School of Resources and Environment, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, P. R. China;

Corresponding author：

LYU Yonggang, Email: yglvbme@163.com

Keywords：

Liquid metal; Multifunctional fabric; Wearable sensor; Thermochromic

DOI：

10.7507/1001-5515.202507019

Video：

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Flexible conductive fibers have been widely applied in wearable flexible sensing. However, exposed wearable flexible sensors based on liquid metal (LM) are prone to abrasion and significant conductivity degradation. This study presented a high-sensitivity LM conductive fiber with integration of strain sensing, electrical heating, and thermochromic capabilities, which was fabricated by coating eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) onto spandex fibers modified with waterborne polyurethane (WPU), followed by thermal curing to form a protective polyurethane sheath. This fiber, designated as Spandex/WPU/EGaIn/Polyurethane (SWEP), exhibits a four-layer coaxial structure: spandex core, WPU modification layer, LM conductive layer, and polyurethane protective sheath. The SWEP fiber had a diameter of (458.3 ± 10.4) μm, linear density of (2.37 ± 0.15) g/m, and uniform EGaIn coating. The fiber had excellent conductivity with an average value of (3 716.9 ± 594.2) S/m. The strain sensing performance was particularly noteworthy. A 5 cm × 5 cm woven fabric was fabricated using polyester warp yarns and SWEP weft yarns. The fabric exhibited satisfactory moisture permeability [(536.06 ± 33.15) g/(m²/h)] and maintained stable thermochromic performance after repeated heating cycles. This advanced conductive fiber development is expected to significantly promote LM applications in wearable electronics and smart textile systems.

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1. Souri H, Banerjee H, Jusufi A, et al. Wearable and stretchable strain sensors: materials, sensing mechanisms, and applications. Adv Intell Syst, 2020, 2: 2000039.
2. Roh E, Hwang B, Kim D, et al. Stretchable, transparent, ultrasensitive, and patchable strain sensor for human-machine interfaces comprising a nanohybrid of carbon nanotubes and conductive elastomers. ACS Nano, 2015, 9: 6252-6261.
3. Lu L, Zhou Y, Pan J, et al. Design of helically double-leveled gaps for stretchable fiber strain sensor with ultralow detection limit, broad sensing range, and high repeatability. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2019, 11: 4345-4352.
4. Zhou G, Byun J, Lee S, et al. Highly stretchable multi-walled carbon nanotube/thermoplastic polyurethane composite fibers for ultrasensitive, wearable strain sensors. Nanoscale, 2019, 11: 5884-5890.
5. Wang C, Hu K, Li W, et al. Wearable wire-shaped symmetric supercapacitors based on activated carbon-coated graphite fibers. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2018, 10: 34302-34310.
6. Wang C, Li Y, He X, et al. Cotton-derived bulk and fiber aerogels grafted with nitrogen-doped graphene. Nanoscale, 2015, 7: 7550-7558.
7. Kim H, Shaqeel A, Han S, et al. In situ formation of ag nanoparticles for fiber strain sensors: Toward textile-based wearable applications. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2021, 13(33): 39868-39879.
8. Guan F, Xie Y, Wu H, et al. Silver nanowire-bacterial cellulose composite fiber-based sensor for highly sensitive detection of pressure and proximity. ACS Nano, 2020, 14(11): 15428-15439.
9. Yu X, Fan W, Liu Y, et al. A one-step fabricated sheath-core stretchable fiber based on liquid metal with superior electric conductivity for wearable sensors and heaters. Adv Mater Technol, 2022, 7(7): 2101618.
10. Zhai H, Xu L, Liu Z, et al. Twisted graphene fibre based breathable, wettable and washable anti-jamming strain sensor for underwater motion sensing. Chem Eng J, 2022, 439: 135502.
11. Zhang M, Yang W, Wang Z, et al. Highly compressible and thermal insulative conductive Mxene/PEDOT: PSS@Melamine foam for promising wearable piezoresistive sensor. Appl Phys Lett, 2023, 122(4): 0137571.
12. Lee T, Kim J, Lee J. Fabrication of highly conductive fibers by metal ion-exchange using a simply modified wet-spinning process. Macromol Res, 2018, 25: 1230-1236.
13. Wang J, Huang S, Lu X, et al. Wet-spinning of highly conductive nanocellulose-silver fibers. J Mater Chem C, 2017, 5: 9673-9679.
14. Liu Y, Xu Z, Zhan J, et al. Superb electrically conductive graphene fibers via doping strategy. Adv Mater, 2016, 28: 7941-7947.
15. Zhu S, So J H, Mays R, et al. Ultrastretchable fibers with metallic conductivity using a liquid metal alloy core. Adv Funct Mater, 2013, 23: 2308-2314.
16. Lu Y, Hu Q, Lin Y, et al. Transformable liquid-metal nanomedicine. Nat Commun, 2015, 6: 10066.
17. Guo R, Liu J. Implantable liquid metal-based flexible neural microelectrode array and its application in recovering animal locomotion functions. J Micromech Microeng, 2017, 27: 104002.
18. Guo R, Sheng L, Gong H. Liquid metal spiral coil enabled soft electromagnetic actuator. Sci China Technol Sci, 2018, 61: 516-521.
19. Matsuzaki R, Tabayashi K. Highly stretchable, global, and distributed local strain sensing line using GaInSn electrodes for wearable electronics. Adv Funct Mater, 2015, 25: 3806-3813.
20. Zhao X, Xu S, Liu J. Surface tension of liquid metal: role, mechanism and application. Front Energy, 2017, 11: 535-567.
21. Zhu L, Wang B, Handschuh-Wang S, et al. Liquid metal based soft microfluidics. Small, 2020, 16: 1903841.
22. Chang H, Zhang P, Guo R, et al. Recoverable liquid metal paste with reversible rheological characteristic for electronics printing. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2020, 12: 14125-14135.
23. Farrell Z, Tabor C. Control of gallium oxide growth on liquid metal eutectic gallium/indium nanoparticles via thiolation. Langmuir, 2018, 34: 234-240.
24. 薛超, 杨晓川, 夏旺, 等. 液态金属/聚氨酯复合弹性导电纤维的制备及性能. 印染, 2021, 47(12): 13-16.
25. Buchanan C, Gardner L. Metal 3D printing in construction: a review of methods, research, applications, opportunities and challenges. Eng Struct, 2019, 180: 332-348.
26. Zheng Y, He Z, Yang J, et al. Personal electronics printing via tapping mode composite liquid metal ink delivery and adhesion mechanism. Sci Rep, 2014, 4: 4588.
27. Zhang Q, Zheng Y, Liu J. Direct writing of electronics based on alloy and metal ink (DREAM) ink: a newly emerging area and its impact on energy, environment and health sciences. Front Energy, 2012, 6: 311-340.
28. Zhou N, Jiang B, He X, et al. A superstretchable and ultrastable liquid metal-elastomer wire for soft electronic devices. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2021, 13: 19254-19262.
29. Guo R, Wang H, Chen G, et al. Smart semi-liquid metal fibers with designed mechanical properties for room temperature stimulus response and liquid welding. Appl Mater Today, 2020, 20: 100738.
30. Tian Y, Wang Z, Cao S, et al. Connective tissue inspired elastomer-based hydrogel for artificial skin via radiation-indued penetrating polymerization. Nat Commun, 2024, 15(1): 636.

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