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Weft-knitted spacer fabrics, a kind of three-dimensional fabric structure, are potential substitutes for typical rubber sponges and polyurethane foams for the protection of human body from exposure to vibrations. To explore the capability and the designability of weft-knitted spacer fabrics as the functional material of personal protective equipment against vibration, such as anti-vibration gloves and car cushions, the vibration behavior and physical properties of weft-knitted spacer fabrics manufactured using flat knitting technology were studied. In the first part of the article, the vibration behavior of top-loaded weft-knitted spacer fabric under harmonic base excitation was analyzed. The effects of monofilament diameter, linking distance and excitation acceleration level on the transmissibility curve of the mass-spacer fabric were evaluated. It was shown that to broaden the frequency range for vibration isolation, spacer fabrics with smaller monofilament diameter and longer linking distance were preferred. In the second part of the article, the effects of monofilament type, monofilament diameter, and spacer structure on the physical properties of spacer fabric including fabric shrinkage coefficient, fabric thickness, fabric stitch densities, and fabric areal mass were analyzed. It was found that fabric thickness was increased by employing spacer structures with longer linking distance and lower filling density of spacer monofilament. In addition, in order to obtain an optimized high fabric thickness, nylon monofilament was preferred to polyester monofilament. On the other hand, monofilament diameter has a significant influence on stitch densities and fabric areal mass. Larger monofilament diameter resulted in lower stitch densities and heavier areal mass for spacer fabric.

Wearable electronics have enriched daily lives by providing smart functions as well as monitoring body health conditions. However, the realization of wearable electronics with personal healthcare and thermal comfort management of the human body is still a great challenge. Furthermore, manufacturing such on-skin wearable electronics on traditional thin-film substrates results in limited gas permeability and inflammation. Herein, we proposed a personal healthcare and thermal management smart textile with a three-dimensional (3D) interconnected conductive network, formed by silver nanowires (AgNWs) bridging lamellar structured transition-metal carbide/carbonitride (MXene) nanosheets deposited on nonwoven fabrics. Benefiting from the interconnected conductive network synergistic effect of one-dimensional (1D) AgNWs bridging two-dimensional (2D) MXene, the strain sensor exhibits excellent durability (>1500 stretching cycles) and high sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) = 1085) with a wide strain range limit (∼100%), and the details of human body activities can be accurately recognized and monitored. Moreover, thanks to the excellent Joule heating and photothermal effect endowed by AgNWs and MXene, the multifunctional smart textile with direct temperature visualization and solar-powered temperature regulation functions was successfully developed, after further combination of thermochromic and phase-change functional layers, respectively. The smart textiles with a stretchable AgNW-MXene 3D conductive network hold great promise for next-generation personal healthcare and thermal management wearable systems.

The conversion of diverse polymeric substrates into laser-induced graphene (LIG) has recently emerged as a single-step method for the fabrication of patterned graphene-based wearable electronics with a wide range of applications in sensing, actuation, and energy storage. Laser-induced pyrolysis technology has many advantages over traditional graphene design: eco-friendly, designable patterning, roll-to-roll production, and controllable morphology. In this work, we designed wearable and flexible graphene-based strain and pressure sensors by laminating LIG from a commercial polyimide (PI) film. The as-prepared LIG was transferred onto a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheet, interwoven inside an elastic cotton sports fabric with the fabric glue as a wearable sensor. The single LIG/PDMS layer acts as a strain sensor, and a two-layer perpendicular stacking of LIG/PDMS (

Functional textiles with superhydrophobicity and high adhesion to water, called parahydrophobic, are attracting increasing attention from industry and academia. The hierarchical (micronanoscale) surface patterns in nature provide an excellent reference for the manufacture of parahydrophobic functional textiles. However, the replication of the complex parahydrophobic micronanostructures in nature exceeds the ability of traditional manufacturing strategies, which makes it difficult to accurately manufacture controllable nanostructures on yarn and textiles. Herein, a two-photon femtosecond laser direct writing strategy with nanoscale process capability was utilized to accurately construct the functional parahydrophobic yarn with a diameter of 900 μm. Inspired by rose petals, the parahydrophobic yarn is composed of a hollow round tube, regularly arranged micropapillae (the diameter is 109 μm), and nanofolds (the distance is 800 nm) on papillae. The bionic yarn exhibited a superior parahydrophobic behavior, where the liquid droplet not only was firmly adhered to the bionic yarn at an inverted angle (180°) but also presented as spherical on the yarn (the maximum water contact angle is 159°). The fabric woven by the bionic yarn also exhibited liquid droplet-catching ability even when tilted vertically or turned upside down. Based on the excellent parahydrophobic function of bionic yarn, we demonstrated a glove that has very wide application potential in the fields of water droplet-based transportation, manipulation, microreactors, microextractors, etc.

Purpose: The incidence of rectal cancer in young adults is gradually increasing. Patients with young-onset rectal cancer tend to receive more aggressive treatment than older patients. However, the results of studies on the prognosis of patients with young-onset rectal cancer are controversial. This study aimed to retrospectively investigate the prognosis and treatment of patients with young-onset rectal cancer, compared with the older group. Methods:Patients diagnosed with rectal cancer who underwent curative surgical resection between 2015 and 2019 were enrolled. Propensity-matched sex and clinical stage were used to compare prognoses between young-onset and older groups. Results: A total of 604 patients were enrolled. Among them, 73 were aged 50 years or less, and 531 were over 50 years of age. After matching, 73 young-onset patients and 146 older patients (>50 years) were identified. More aggressive treatments were administered in the young-onset group than those in the older group, including neoadjuvant therapy (32.9% vs. 17.8%; P=0.012) and adjuvant therapy (74.0% vs. 42.5%; PP=0.008). Moreover, females in the young-onset group had worse outcomes than males (P=0.033). Conclusions: With more aggressive treatment, patients with young-onset rectal cancer do not seem to have a better oncologic outcome than older patients. More precise and individualized treatment may be needed for patients with young-onset rectal cancer.

As the critical component of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), proton exchange membrane (PEM) determine its overall performance. Current PEMs hardly meet the operating requirements of fuel cells, limiting their commercial applications. With the development of nanocomposite technology, nanofibers introduced into PEMs to prepare nanofiber composite proton exchange membranes (NCPEMs) have been widely studied. In an NCPEM, nanofibers can form long-range channels for proton transport, and reinforced skeleton to reach the target performance of PEMFCs. Focusing on NCPEM, this paper reviews on recent progresses in nanofiber preparation and NCPEM preparation techniques. Furthermore, different types of nanofibers incorporated into NCPEMs are reviewed in terms of fiber composition. The challenges and future perspectives regarding NCPEMs are also discussed.

Fiber-like magnetic nanostructures (MNs) with unique shape- and magnetism-related properties have attracted growing interest due to their promising potential as diagnostic, therapeutic or/and theranostic agents in biomedicine. Herein, we report a general and efficient strategy to prepare fiber-like MNs with length tunability, colloidal and morphological stability and capacity for functionalization by the combination of living crystallization driven self-assembly of π-conjugated oligo(p-phenylenevinylene)-based copolymers, hydrogen-bonding/electrostatic interaction and silica chemistry. This work opens a new avenue to fabricate fiber-like MNs with diverse functionalities for broad applications.

Flexible touch-sensing devices have attracted extensive attention in wearable electronics and human-machine interaction. The ionic touch-sensing hydrogels are ideal candidates for these scenarios, but the absorbed water evaporates easily from the hydrogel, reducing their working time and stability. Herein, we propose a touch-sensing fabric system composed of non-woven cellulose fabrics as a sheath shell layer encapsulated with a hydrogel filling layer. The resultant touch-sensing fabric has a super-thin structure (1 mm) and exhibits a low detecting threshold (50 Pa), high durability (100k times), strain/pressure insensitivity and extremely high touch positioning accuracy. In the proof of concept, a smart touch-sensing glove is equipped with our fabric, which can execute human-computer interaction as a flexible touch-sensing device.

To improve the flame retardant and anti-dripping property of polyamide fabric, Graphene oxide (GO), Melamine and TAC（Triallyl cyanurate） were used as finishing agents to modify polyamide fabric by ...

Disposable medical protective clothing for 2019-nCoV mainly consists of stacked layers with nanopore films, polymer coated nonwoven fabrics and melt-blown nonwoven fabrics against anti-microbial and anti-liquid penetration. However, such structures lack moisture permeability and breathability leading to an uncomfortable, stuffy wearing experience. Here, we propose a novel medical protective clothing material with a superabsorbent layer to enhance moisture absorption. Poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)/polyvinyl alcohol superabsorbent fibers (PAAAM/PVA fibers) were prepared via wet spinning. And the superabsorbent composite layer was stacked from PAAAM/PVA fibers, bamboo pulp fibers (BPF) and ethylene-propylene side by side fibers (ESF). The novel disposable medical protective composite fabric was obtained through gluing the superabsorbent layer to the inner surface of strong antistatic polypropylene nonwoven fabric. The resultant composite fabric possesses excellent absorption and retention capacity for sweat, up to 12.3 g/g and 63.8%, and a maximum hygroscopic rate of 1.04 g/h, higher than that of the conventional material (only 0.53 g/h). The moisture permeability of the novel material reached 12,638.5 g/(m2 d), which was 307.6% of the conventional material. The novel material can effectively reduce the humidity inside the protective clothing and significantly improve the comfort of medical staff.

Microwave-assisted one-step degumming and modification of hemp fiber with graphene oxide (GO) have been studied. The results showed that the residual gum content of the hemp using GO bath is lower ...

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabrics were coated with the coupling agent 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane and graphene oxide (GO) by conventional pad-dry-cure processing method. The coated P...

Fiber-like π-conjugated nanostructures are important components of flexible organic electronic and optoelectronic devices. To broaden the range of potential applications, one needs to control not only the length of these nanostructures, but the introduction of diverse functionality with spatially selective control. Here we report the synthesis of a crystalline-coil block copolymer of oligo(p-phenylenevinylene)-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (OPV5 -b-P2VP44 ), in which the basicity and coordinating/chelating ability of the P2VP segment provide a landscape for the incorporation of a variety of functional inorganic NPs. Through a self-seeding strategy, we were able to prepare monodisperse fiber-like micelles of OPV5 -b-P2VP44 with lengths ranging from 50 to 800 nm. Significantly, the exposed two ends of OPV core of these fiber-like micelles remained active toward further epitaxial deposition of OPV5 -b-PNIPAM49 and OPV5 -b-P2VP44 to generate uniform A-B-A and B-A-B-A-B segmented block comicelles with tunable lengths for each block. The P2VP domains in these (co-)micelles can be selectively decorated with inorganic and polymeric nanoparticles as well as metal oxide coatings, to afford hybrid fiber-like nanostructures. This work provides a versatile strategy toward the fabrication of narrow length dispersity continuous and segmented π-conjugated OPV-containing fiber-like micelles with the capacity to be decorated in a spatially selective way with varying functionalities.

Flexible, stretchable and sensitive textile-based sensors play important roles in a wide variety of artificial intelligence because of its seamless integration with clothing and good comfort. Herein, MXene sensing layer is deposited on the surface of springlike helical core-sheath polyester yarns thanks to the capillarity effect and its intrinsic hydrophilic ability, and the resultant strain sensor and humidity sensor exhibit wide detection range from 0.3 to 120% strain and 30–100% relative humidity (RH) detection, owing to elastic core-sheath structures. The strain sensor shows excellent reproducibility (over 10000 cycles) and fast response time (120 ms). The core-sheath yarn sensor can detect various human motions such as walking, bending and twisting as well as physiological signal (pulse), which have great potential in real-time precise medicine and health care. The yarn sensor could also be an excellent humidity sensor because of the high specific area structure of yarn and intrinsic hydrophilic properties of MXene sensing layer.

The safety of the power grid is threatened by incorrect action (IA) of relay protection system (RPS) resulting from defects, and even worsen a blackout. Currently, a large amount of data about IAs and defects in RPS are accumulated in operation. However, the relationship between the IAs and device defects is unclear. Recognizing the above problems, based on the 10-year field data, this paper proposes fault tree analysis for the IAs of RPS to discover relationship between the IAs and device defects. In detail, based on analysis of the field data, the defect sets which is related to IAs are built, after that, the method to construction of two fault trees for the incorrect actions, which taking the incorrect actions as the top event, and the defect locations and component factors as the bottom level respectively, is proposed. Furthermore, combined with the 10-year filed data, the different fault trees are established and presented, and the related analysis for different responsible entities is discussed, which show the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed method.

Currently, a large amount of defect data in relay protection devices (RPDs) is accumulated in operation. However, the defect data dependence analysis is absence and thus it could not meet the demand for further improving the management and operation RPDs. Based on 7-years defect data of RPDs in SGCC, this paper discovers the association rules (ARs) of defect data based on the Apriori algorithm. In detail, the ARs among different categories of PRDs, such as defect parts and defect causes are discovered and analyzed. Furthermore, the family characteristics of defects are illustrated, with the defect data of RPDs from different manufacturers. The analysis results show that the Apriori method can effectively reveal the hidden information in the defect data, such as the ARs between the vulnerable parts of RPDs, defect causes and other factors.

Flexible transparent electrodes demand high transparency, low sheet resistance, as well as excellent mechanical flexibility simultaneously, however they still remain to be a great challenge due to"trade-off" effect. Herein, inspired by a hollow interconnected leaf vein, we developed robust transparent conductive mesh with biomimetic interwoven structure via hierarchically self-assembles silver nanowires interwoven metal carbide/nitride (MXene) sheets along directional microfibers. Strong interfacial interactions between plant fibers and conductive units facilitate hierarchically interwoven conductive mesh constructed orderly on flexible and lightweight veins while maintaining high transparency, effectively avoiding the trade-off effect between optoelectronic properties. The flexible transparent electrodes exhibit sheet resistance of 0.5 Ω sq

Wearable flexible sensors have developed rapidly in recent years because of their improved capacity to detect human motion in wide-ranging situations. In order to meet the requirements of flexibility and low detection limits, a new pressure sensor was fabricated based on electrospun barium titanate/multi-wall carbon nanotubes (BTO@MWCNTs) core-shell nanofibers coated with styrene-ethylene-butene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS). The sensor material (BTO@MWCNTs/SEBS) had a SEBS to BTO/MWCNTs mass ratio of 20:1 and exhibited an excellent piezoelectricity over a wide range of workable pressures from 1 to 50 kPa, higher output current of 56.37 nA and a superior piezoresistivity over a broad working range of 20 to 110 kPa in compression. The sensor also exhibited good durability and repeatability under different pressures and under long-term cyclic loading. These properties make the composite ideal for applications requiring monitoring subtle pressure changes (exhalation, pulse rate) and finger movements. The pressure sensor developed based on BTO@MWCNTs core-shell nanofibers has demonstrated great potential to be assembled into intelligent wearable devices.

Accurate grading of relay protection device (RPD) defects can improve the maintenance and reliability of RPD to ensure the safety of power grid. Based on the text record of defects of RPDs in a regional power grid and the defect text dictionary, this paper analyses the defect grading method with Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) assignment method and simple classifiers. The details are as follows: firstly, the construction of relay protection devices defect dictionary is introduced. Secondly, the vectorization text of relay protection devices defect is formed; combined with TF-IDF assignment method, and then, the relay protection devices defect grading models based on five simple classifiers are constructed respectively. Finally, the performance of the above defect grading methods is compared and analysed based on the k-fold crossover method. The grading models constructed in the paper can provide an auxiliary to relay protection device operation.

Smart clothing has demonstrated potential applications in a wide range of wearable fields for human body monitoring and self-adaption. However, current wearable sensors often suffer from not seamlessly integrating with normal clothing, restricting sensing ability, and a negative wearing experience. Here, integrated smart clothing is fabricated by employing multiscale disordered porous elastic fibers as sensing units, which show the capability of inherently autonomous self-sensing (i.e., strain and temperature sensing) and self-cooling. The multiscale disordered porous structure of the fibers contributes to the high transparency of mid-infrared human body radiation and backscatter of visible light, which allows the microenvironment temperature between the skin and clothing to drop at least ∼2.5 °C compared with cotton fabrics. After the capillary-assisted adsorption of graphene inks, the modified porous fibers could also possess real-time strain and temperature-sensing capacities with a high gauge factor and thermal coefficient of resistance. As a proof of concept, the integrated smart sportswear achieved the measuring of body temperature, the tracking of large-scale limb movements, and the collection of subtle human physiological signals, along with the intrinsic self-cooling ability.

Graphene has been highlighted in a variety of wearable electronics and smart textiles applications due to its unique properties such as high conductivity, transparency, flexibility and other excellent mechanical performance. Although there have been extensive efforts for graphene based conductive fibers/yarns, there are remaining challenges in terms of the seamless integration between 2D flakes, and reduced charge transport in a lower carrier concentration. Unstable resistance probably arises from the creation of gaps in the conductive parts of the smart textile. Also, regional temperatures can get too high, constituting a fire-safety hazard and endangering the wearer's safety. In this work, the synergistic effect of graphene and flame-retardant materials was investigated, and a conductive fabric was developed which is highly conductive and flame retardancy. Graphene has excellent electrical and thermal conductivity and acts synergistically with traditional flame-retardants on common fabrics. The electrical surface resistivity of hybrid material modified fabrics was as low as 0.54 kΩ/sq, so they could serve as safe and highly conductive conductor in a simple circuit and show excellent wash-ability. The limiting oxygen index of the fabric increased from 19 to 32 after modification in conjunction with the residue at 800 °C increased from 17.9 to 31%, which could be used as safe and highly conductive materials for smart textiles and wearable devices.

Conductive nanomaterials have recently gained a lot of interest due to their excellent physical, chemical, and electrical properties, as well as their numerous nanoscale morphologies, which enable them to be fabricated into a wide range of modern chemical and biological sensors. This study focuses mainly on current applications based on conductive nanostructured materials. They are the key elements in preparing wearable electrochemical Biosensors, including electrochemical immunosensors and DNA biosensors. Conductive nanomaterials such as carbon (Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene), metals and conductive polymers, which provide a large effective surface area, fast electron transfer rate and high electrical conductivity, are summarized in detail. Conductive polymer nanocomposites in combination with carbon and metal nanoparticles have also been addressed to increase sensor performance. In conclusion, a section on current challenges and opportunities in this growing field is forecasted at the end.

Photothermal bimorph actuators have attracted considerable attention in intelligent devices because of their cordless control and lightweight and easy preparation. However, current photothermal bimorph actuators are mostly based on films or papers driven by near-infrared sources, which are deficient in flexibility and adaptability, restricting their potential in wearable applications. Herein, a bimorph textile actuator that can be scalably fabricated with a traditional textile route and autonomously triggered by sunlight is reported. The active layer and passive layer of the bimorph are constructed by polypropylene tape and a MXene-modified polyamide filament. Because of the opposite thermal expansion and MXene-enhanced photothermal efficiency (>260%) of the bimorph, the textile actuator presents effective deformation (1.38 cm–1) under low sunlight power (100 mW/cm2). This work provides a new pathway for wearable sunlight-triggered actuators and finds attractive applications for smart textiles.

Fast fashion has been widely criticised for its excessive resource use and high generation of textile. To reduce its environmental impacts, numerous efforts have focused on finding sustainable and eco-friendly approaches to textile recycling. However, waste textiles and fibres are still mainly disposed of in landfills or by incineration and thereby pollute the natural environment, as there is still no effective strategy to separate natural fibres from chemical fibres. Herein, we developed a green chemistry strategy for the separation and regeneration of waste textiles at the molecular level. Cellulose/wool keratin composite fibres and multicomponent fibres were regenerated from waste textiles via ionic liquids. Our strategy attempts to reduce the large amount of waste textiles generated by the fast-developing fashion industry and provide a new source of fibres, which can also address the fossil fuel reserve shortages caused by chemical fibre industries and global food shortages caused by natural fibre production.

Flexible textile-based supercapacitors (SCs) have attracted a lot of attention, with the artificial intelligence technology and smart wearable electronic textiles developing rapidly. However, energy-storage performance of common textile-based SCs is always restricted with the low-dimensional substrates (i.e., one-dimensional fibers or two-dimensional fabrics), and hence flexible textile-based SCs with multifarious hierarchical substrates are highly desired. Herein, a multidimensional hierarchical fabric electrode model with a bionic fiber microarray structure has been designed, inspired by the "grasp effect" of the sophisticated arrangement structures of hedgehog spines, and the bionic assembled SCs exhibit an enhanced specific areal capacitance (245.5 mF/cm