A smart fabric for next-gen medical tech

The fabric could be used to create disease-sensing face masks

Spotted: Smart textiles – that is fabrics that can sense and react to stimuli – have enormous potential. Taking sensing fabrics to a new level is a team of researchers based at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), University of Waterloo, and the College of Textile Science and Engineering at Jiangnan University in China.

The team has created a new fabric that incorporates printed sensors into a self-powering, multi-use material that converts body heat and solar energy into electricity, eliminating the need for regular charging or bulky battery packs. The integrated sensors then track health markers such as temperature and stress levels.

The stretchy material could be personalised for each wearer, with a variety of printed sensors integrated into the fabric depending on what aspects of health or performance need to be tracked. The technology could also be used to create smart face masks, which would detect viruses and lung cancer through the wearer’s breath. 

The researchers see great potential for the fabric to be used across sports and healthcare teams. The next phase of work will focus on integrating additional electronic components and adding transmission capability that would connect the material with healthcare tracking apps.

Written By: Keely Khoury