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Author: Mike Williams, Rice University
If your comfortable shirt can do better, there is no need to wear an uncomfortable smart watch or chest strap to monitor your heart.
This is the idea behind the "smart clothing" developed by Rice University's laboratory, which uses its conductive nanotubes to weave functionality into regular clothing.
Matteo Pasquali, a chemical and biomolecular engineer at the Brown School of Engineering, reported in Nano Letters, the journal of the American Chemical Society, that they sewed nanotube fibers into sportswear to monitor heart rate and continuously collect the wearer's electrocardiogram (EKG).
Researchers say that these fibers are as conductive as metal wires, but they are washable, comfortable, and have much less chance of breaking during body exercise.
In general, their enhanced shirt is better at collecting data than a standard chest strap monitor that takes real-time measurements during the experiment. When used with a commercial medical electrode monitor, the ECG of the carbon nanotube shirt is slightly better.
"The shirt must fit snugly against the chest," said Laurentelle, the lead author of the study and a graduate student at Rice University. "In future research, we will focus on using denser carbon nanotube sheets so that more surface area is in contact with the skin."
The researchers pointed out that nanotube fibers are soft and elastic, and clothes containing them can be machine washed. The fibers can be machined into fabrics like standard threads. The zigzag stitch pattern allows the fabric to stretch without breaking them.
Taylor said that these fibers can not only maintain stable electrical contact with the wearer’s skin, but also serve as electrodes to connect to electronic devices such as Bluetooth transmitters, relay data to a smartphone or connect to Holter monitoring that can be placed in the user’s pocket. Device.
Pasquali's laboratory launched carbon nanotube fibers in 2013. Since then, these fibers have contained tens of billions of nanotubes and have been studied for use as a bridge to repair damaged hearts, an electrical interface with the brain, for cochlear implants, as flexible antennas, and automotive and aerospace applications. Their development is also part of the Rice-based Carbon Center, a multi-university research project led by Rice and launched in 2019.
The original nanotube filaments were about 22 microns wide, which was too thin for a sewing machine to handle. Taylor said that rope manufacturers are used to make sewing thread, which is basically three bundles of seven filaments, woven into roughly the size of ordinary thread.
“We work with companies that sell small machines for making ropes for model boats,” said Taylor, who initially tried to weave the threads by hand, but with little success. "He can make a medium-sized device with the same function for us."
She said that the zigzag pattern can be adjusted according to the stretch of the shirt or other fabrics. Taylor said the team is working with Dr. Mehdi Razavi of the Texas Heart Institute and his colleagues to figure out how to maximize skin contact.
The researchers said that fibers woven into fabrics can also be used to embed antennas or LEDs. Small modifications to fiber geometry and related electronics can eventually allow clothing to monitor vital signs, exertion, or breathing rate.
Taylor pointed out that other potential uses could include human-machine interfaces in cars or soft robots, or as antennas, health monitors, and bulletproof protection in military uniforms. "A few years ago, we proved with a collaborator that carbon nanotube fibers are better than Kevlar in terms of energy dissipation by weight, and we don't have some of the gains we have gained since then in terms of tensile strength," she Say.
"We have seen that after two decades of development in laboratories around the world, this material is playing a role in more and more applications," Pasquali said. "Due to the combination of conductivity, good contact with the skin, biocompatibility and flexibility, carbon nanotubes are a natural component of wearable devices."
He said that although the wearable market is relatively small, it may become an entry point for a new generation of sustainable materials that can be extracted from hydrocarbons through direct decomposition, a process that can also produce clean hydrogen. The development of such materials is the focus of the Carbon Center.
"We are in the same situation as solar cells decades ago," Pasquali said. "We need application leaders who can promote production expansion and increase efficiency." Further explore the woven nanotube fibers to convert heat into electricity. More information: Lauren W. Taylor et al., washable, sewable, all-carbon electrodes, and electronic clothing Signal cable, Nano Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01039 Journal information: Nano Letters
Rice University provides a citation: Flexible carbon nanotube fibers woven into clothes to collect accurate ECG and heart rate (August 30, 2021), retrieved from December 13, 2021 https://phys.org/news/2021-08 -flexible-carbon-nanotube- Fiber-woven.html This document is protected by copyright. Except for any fair transaction for private learning or research purposes, no part may be copied without written permission. The content is for reference only.
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