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In construction, textiles can be used either for reinforcing the structure or for finishing design. When we talk about function, the interior is no less important than the exterior and architecture of the building. Thus using textiles to reinforce the structure of buildings, textiles often perform a desired function of reinforcing the “finish.” Building textile materials include fibers that are mixed with concrete, fiberglass reinforcement meshes, insulators, etc. Textile architecture covers permanent tensile structures based on polyester or glass fiber fabrics, with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating and awnings generally supported by polyester or polyolefin fabrics, with or without coating, especially for gardening. All above topics are covered within this perspective with the experts from the group of smart textiles for building and living within COST Action CA17107 European Network to Connect Research and Innovation Efforts on Advanced Smart Textiles (CONTEXT) [1].

Triboelectric generators are excellent candidates for smart textiles applications due to their ability to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Such devices can be manufactured into yarns by coating a conductive core with a triboelectric material, but current triboelectric yarns lack the durability and washing resistance required for textile-based applications. In this work, we develop a unique triboelectric yarn comprising a conducting carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn electrode coated with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) fibers deposited by a customized electrospinning process. We show that the electrospun PVDF fibers adhere extremely well to the CNT core, producing a uniform and stable triboelectric coating. The PVDF–CNT coaxial yarn exhibits remarkable triboelectric energy harvesting during fatigue testing with a 33% power output improvement and a peak power density of 20.7 μW cm–2 after 200 000 fatigue cycles. This is potentially due to an increase in the active surface area of the PVDF fiber coating upon repeated contact. Furthermore, our triboelectric yarn meets standard textile industry benchmarks for both abrasion and washing by retaining functionality over 1200 rubbing cycles and 10 washing cycles. We demonstrate the energy harvesting and motion sensing capabilities of our triboelectric yarn in prototype textile-based applications, thereby highlighting its applicability to smart textiles.

Access to clean water is a global challenge, and fog collectors are a promising solution. Polycarbonate (PC) fibers have been used in fog collectors but with limited efficiency. In this study, we show that controlling voltage polarity and humidity during the electrospinning of PC fibers improves their surface properties for water collection capability. We experimentally measured the effect of both the surface morphology and the chemistry of PC fiber on their surface potential and mechanical properties in relation to the water collection efficiency from fog. PC fibers produced at high humidity and with negative voltage polarity show a superior water collection rate combined with the highest tensile strength. We proved that electric potential on surface and morphology are crucial, as often designed by nature, for enhancing the water collection capabilities via the single-step production of fibers without any postprocessing needs.