posted on 2023-01-23, 14:39authored byYong Lin, Xiaolian Chen, Qianying Lu, Jiayi Wang, Chen Ding, Fuxing Liu, Desheng Kong, Wei Yuan, Wenming Su, Zheng Cui
Textile-based light-emitting devices are attracting more
and more
attention because of their potential applications in smart clothing,
human–computer interfaces, safety warnings, entertainment fashion,
etc. However, simple and efficient manufacturing of luminescent devices
on fabrics even clothing with excellent stretchability and washability
remains challenging. Here, a solvent-free thermal lamination process
combined with laser engraving has been proposed to fabricate electroluminescent
(EL) devices on textiles. All the preprepared components, such as
the bottom electrode, the EL layer, and the top transparent electrode,
were thermally laminated on the surface of textiles employing thermoplastic
polyurethane (TPU) as the binding matrix. The stretchability, luminance,
and interface adhesion of the EL devices were systematically studied,
showing excellent mechanical durability at high temperature, in humid
environments, withstanding repeated machine washing, and resistant
to various forms of physical damage. As a demonstration of potential
application, textile-based EL devices were fabricated, which could
display colored and pixelated patterns as well as dynamic images.
The thermal lamination technology developed in this work can potentially
enable people to DIY (do it yourself) fabricate light-emitting devices
on clothing using daily tools, which could facilitate the widespread
use of textile-based wearable displays.