Sustainable, Wearable, and Eco‐Friendly Electronic Textiles

Wearable electronic textiles (e‐textiles) with embedded electronics offer promising solutions for unobtrusive, real‐time health monitoring, enhancing healthcare efficiency. However, their adoption is limited by performance and sustainability challenges in materials, manufacturing, and recycling. This study introduces a sustainable paradigm for the fabrication of fully inkjet‐printed Smart, Wearable, and Eco‐friendly Electronic Textiles (SWEET) with the first comprehensive assessments of the biodegradability and life cycle assessment (LCA). SWEET addresses existing limitations, enabling concurrent and continuous monitoring of human physiology, including skin surface temperature (at temperature coefficient of resistance, TCR value of ~−4.4% °C −1 ) and heart rate (~74 beats per minute, bpm) separately and simultaneously like the industry gold standard, using consistent, versatile, and highly efficient inkjet‐printed graphene and Poly (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)‐based wearable e‐textiles. Demonstrations with a wearable garment on five human participants confirm the system's capability to monitor their electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and skin temperature. Such sustainable and biodegradable e‐textiles decompose by ~48% in weight and lost ~98% strength over 4 months. Life cycle assessment (LCA) reveals that the graphene‐based electrode has the lowest climate change impact of ~0.037 kg CO 2 eq, 40 times lower than reference electrodes. This approach addresses material and manufacturing challenges, while aligning with environmental responsibility, marking a significant leap forward in sustainable e‐textile technology for personalized healthcare management.

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Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Energy & environment materials
Published
2024-12-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/eem2.12854
Citations
17
Primary Topic
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.14

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article

Sustainable, Wearable, and Eco‐Friendly Electronic Textiles

Shaila Afroj, Nazmul Karim, Md. Rashedul Islam, Marzia Dulal et al.
17 citations
Energy & environment materials
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
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article

Sustainable, Wearable, and Eco‐Friendly Electronic Textiles

Shaila Afroj, Nazmul Karim, Md. Rashedul Islam, Marzia Dulal, Tawfique Hasan, Chris Carr, Robin Thorn, Jingqi Liu, Harsh Rajesh Mansukhlal Modha
article en
17 citations

Abstract

Wearable electronic textiles (e‐textiles) with embedded electronics offer promising solutions for unobtrusive, real‐time health monitoring, enhancing healthcare efficiency. However, their adoption is limited by performance and sustainability challenges in materials, manufacturing, and recycling. This study introduces a sustainable paradigm for the fabrication of fully inkjet‐printed Smart, Wearable, and Eco‐friendly Electronic Textiles (SWEET) with the first comprehensive assessments of the biodegradability and life cycle assessment (LCA). SWEET addresses existing limitations, enabling concurrent and continuous monitoring of human physiology, including skin surface temperature (at temperature coefficient of resistance, TCR value of ~−4.4% °C −1 ) and heart rate (~74 beats per minute, bpm) separately and simultaneously like the industry gold standard, using consistent, versatile, and highly efficient inkjet‐printed graphene and Poly (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)‐based wearable e‐textiles. Demonstrations with a wearable garment on five human participants confirm the system's capability to monitor their electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and skin temperature. Such sustainable and biodegradable e‐textiles decompose by ~48% in weight and lost ~98% strength over 4 months. Life cycle assessment (LCA) reveals that the graphene‐based electrode has the lowest climate change impact of ~0.037 kg CO 2 eq, 40 times lower than reference electrodes. This approach addresses material and manufacturing challenges, while aligning with environmental responsibility, marking a significant leap forward in sustainable e‐textile technology for personalized healthcare management.

Energy & environment materialsVol. 8(3)
University of Leeds (GB), University of the West of England (GB), University of Exeter (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), University of Southampton (GB), University of Bath (GB), Nottingham Trent University (GB), Bangladesh University of Textiles (BD)
UK Research and Innovation, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, China Scholarship Council, Research England
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
3.14
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