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Programmable Polyaniline-Nanostructured Sensing Fibers via Microfluidic Spinning Chemistry and Their Wearable
Yuting Wu1,2, Jian Tang3, Shangjun Chen1
1College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
ACS Sensors
|March 5, 2026
Summary
A new microfluidic spinning method creates highly elastic conductive fibers using polyaniline (PANI) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). These advanced fibers offer superior conductivity, strain sensing, and durability for smart textiles in sports, military, and medical applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Science
- Textile Engineering
Background:
- Flexible smart textiles require conductive fibers with high elasticity, wide strain response, and environmental stability.
- Conventional polyaniline (PANI)-based composite conductive fibers face challenges in scalability, nanostructure control, and electromechanical properties, limiting their use in smart textiles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an innovative online in situ polymerization microfluidic spinning (OIPMS) strategy for fabricating advanced conductive fibers.
- To enable continuous growth of tunable PANI nanostructures on PANI/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composite fibers for enhanced properties.
Main Methods:
- An online in situ polymerization microfluidic spinning (OIPMS) strategy was employed, integrating solvent-exchange-induced phase separation with in situ oxidative polymerization of aniline.
- Tunable PANI nanostructures (nanoparticles, nanorods, nanowires, nanosheets) were grown on PANI/TPU composite fibers, with a focus on PANI nanowires (PNWs) forming a dense surface network.
Main Results:
- The resulting PANI/TPU@PNW fibers achieved a conductivity of 36.21 S/m, breaking elongation > 400%, and breaking strength of 0.19 cN/dtex.
- Excellent strain sensing properties were observed, including a wide strain range (0-300%), high sensitivity (gauge factor = 24.2), linearity (R^2 = 0.984), and rapid response times.
- The fibers demonstrated multimodal sensing for bending and pressure, maintaining stability after 5000 stretching cycles and 30 machine washes.
Conclusions:
- The OIPMS strategy successfully produced highly elastic and conductive PANI/TPU@PNW fibers with superior electromechanical and sensing properties.
- The sensing mechanism involves a synergistic conductive network formed by matrix enhancement, surface cracking, and outer layer bridging.
- These fibers show significant potential for integration into smart textiles for applications in sports science, military communication, and medical monitoring.
