Recently, the research group led by Associate Professor Liu Keshuai from the Textile College has made significant progress in the development of functional composite braided ropes. By adopting a core-sheath composite structure and an interlocked plush loop braiding design, they have developed a self-powered sensing yarn for real-time motion monitoring, location tracking, and emergency alarm in fire rescue systems. The related work, titled Enhancing electrical output and thermal adaptivity in an interlocked core-sheath triboelectric yarn/fabric for intelligent fire-rescue systems, was published in the high-level international journal Chemical Engineering Journal (a TOP journal in Zone 1 of the Chinese Academy of Sciences). Wuhan Textile University is the first institution, Associate Professor Liu Keshuai from the Textile College is the corresponding author of the paper, and Peng Zhiyong, a 22nd-grade graduate student from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, is the first author of the paper.
Thesis link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.150172
With frequent occurrences of fire accidents each year posing a serious threat to public safety, property, and the ecological environment, the use of self-powered flexible electronic textiles in firefighting and rescue operations has garnered widespread attention. According to literature reports, an ideal intelligent rescue system should have the ability for energy harvesting, structural flexibility, and excellent thermal protection to maintain stable electromechanical performance even under high-temperature conditions. However, the existing core-sheath structured triboelectric yarns have limited electrical output performance and poor thermal adaptivity, restricting their practical applications.
Based on this, the study utilized scalable braiding techniques to manufacture a frictional triboelectric yarn with an interlocked core-sheath plush loop structure, consisting of a silver-plated conductive yarn in the inner layer and a plush loop-shaped polyimide yarn in the outer layer. This unique structural design optimized stability, increased contact area, and enhanced dielectric layer coverage, granting the frictional triboelectric yarn excellent electrical output performance and outstanding thermal stability within a broad temperature range of 25-250°C. Furthermore, it can be seamlessly integrated with commercial firefighting suits into self-powered firefighting rescue systems for motion monitoring, location tracking, and escape warnings for trapped firefighters. This novel self-powered sensing yarn with an interlocked core-sheath plush loop structure holds promise in providing new manufacturing strategies for the next-generation intelligent firefighting and rescue systems.
Associate Professor Liu Keshuai, the corresponding author of this paper, has been engaged in the research of functional fiber materials processing and high-performance specialty textiles for a long time. He has received one second prize of the Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Invention Award in 2022, one first prize of the Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Invention Award in 2018, and one first prize of the Anhui Provincial Science and Technology Award in 2019. To date, he has published over 40 articles in domestic and international academic journals such as Advanced Functional Materials, Composites Part B, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Advanced Science. This work has been supported by the guidance of Academician Xu Weilin, as well as funding from national key research and development programs, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Hubei Province Science and Technology Innovation Talent Program, and the Hubei Province Key Research and Development Program.
Editor: Cheng Peng
