“Smart” Shirt Utilizes Flexible Carbon Nanotube Fibers To Keep Track of the Heart

Rice’s flexible carbon nanotube fibers woven into clothes collect precise EKG, heart rate.

There is no demand to wear awkward smartwatches or chest straps to monitor your heart if your comfortable shirt can do a far better job.

There’s no need to wear cumbersome timepieces or chest straps to monitor your heart when a comfy shirt would suffice. A Rice University laboratory created the concept of “smart clothing” by weaving functionality into traditional garments using its conductive nanotube thread.

Matteo Pasquali, a chemical and biomolecular engineer at Brown University, reported in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters that they sewed nanotube fibers into athletic wear to monitor the wearer’s heart rate and take an ongoing electrocardiogram (EKG).

According to scientists, the fibers are just as conductive as metal wires but are considerably more washable, comfortable, and less likely to harm when a person is in motion.

Overall, the improved shirt performed significantly better than a regular chest-strap monitor taking real-time measures during studies. When paired with commercial medical electrode screens, the carbon nanotube tee shirt produced somewhat superior EKGs.

The garment has to be well fitted against one’s chest,” said the study’s principal author, Rice graduate student Lauren Taylor. “In subsequent research, we will focus on employing denser patches of carbon nanotube threads to allow for greater human skin interaction.

The development of the nanotube fiber thread

The investigators noticed that nanotube fibers are soft and flexible, and that garments made with them can be machine washed. The fibers can be machine-sewn into the cloth in the same way that regular thread can. The zigzag stitching pattern allows the fabric to expand without breaking.

Taylor claimed that the fibers made continual electrical contact with the user’s skin and served as electrodes to link electronic devices such as Bluetooth transmitters to relay data to a mobile phone or connect to a Holter monitor that may be stored in the user’s pocket.

Pasquali’s laboratory first introduced carbon nanotube fiber in 2013. Since then, the fibers, which are made up of tens of billions of nanotubes, have been studied for their potential use as bridges to mend broken hearts, electrical interfaces with the brain, cochlear implants, flexible antennae, and car and aerospace applications. Their advancement is also part of the Rice-based Carbon Center, a multi-university research initiative led by Rice that was launched in 2019.

Taylor said that a rope-maker was employed to manufacture a sewable thread, which consisted of three bundles of seven filaments each, braided into a size roughly comparable to regular threading.

Pasquali’s laboratory first introduced carbon nanotube fiber in 2013. Since then, the fibers, which are made up of tens of billions of nanotubes, have been studied for their potential use as bridges to mend broken hearts, electrical interfaces with the brain, cochlear implants, flexible antennae, and car and aerospace applications. Their progress is also part of the Rice-based Carbon Center, a multi-university scientific endeavor started in 2019 by Rice.

Being around 22 microns wide, the initial nanotube strands were too thin for a sewing machine to handle. Taylor said that a rope-maker was used to manufacture a sewable thread, which consisted of three bundles of seven filaments each, braided into a size roughly comparable to regular threading. We collaborated with someone who sells little machines designed to make ropes for model ships,” explained Taylor, who had previously attempted to weave the string by hand with limited success.

Subsequently suggested that the zigzag pattern may be adjusted to accommodate for how much a tee shirt or other material expands. Taylor noted that the team is collaborating with Dr. Mehdi Razavi and his colleagues at the Texas Heart Institute to determine ways to improve contact between humans and their skin.

Nanotube fiber’s market expansion

Fibers woven directly into the material, according to the researchers, can also be used to incorporate antennae or LEDs. Minor changes to the shape of the fibers and associated electronics could someday allow clothing to monitor vital signs, physical exertion, and respiration rate.

According to Taylor, additional possible uses include human-machine interfaces for vehicles or soft robots, as well as antennae, health monitoring, and ballistic protection in military apparel. Fortunately lately demonstrated with a partner that carbon nanotube fibers disperse energy significantly better than this material on a weight-for-weight approach.

All of us observe that, after a quarter of a century of research and development in labs throughout the world, this material works in a growing variety of applications.

He believes that, while the wearable market is small, it might serve as a springboard for a new generation of sustainable materials created from hydrocarbons via direct splitting. This technique also generates pure hydrogen. The Carbon Hub is focused on the creation of such products. Our troops are in the same boat as solar cells were a few generations previously, said Pasquali. “Ultimately, we are all in need of technology leaders who can provide an incentive for enhanced efficiency and performance.

Read the original article on Scitech Daily.

Reference: “Washable, Sewable, All-Carbon Electrodes and Signal Wires for Electronic Clothing” by Lauren W. Taylor, Steven M. Williams, J. Stephen Yan, Oliver S. Dewey, Flavia Vitale and Matteo Pasquali, 30 August 2021, Nano Letters.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01039