Towards integrated textile display systems

Abstract

We receive approximately 80% of our external environmental information through vision, making display technology an essential component of modern life. The evolution of device structures has led to the iterative development of display technology from rigid bulk to flexible films. Recently, next-generation displays have woven electroluminescent units directly into polymer composite fibres to form textile displays. Such displays are flexible and breathable, like clothing, suggesting applications such as wearables and smart textiles. In particular, they would allow users to interact with electronic devices by touching the clothing. This Perspective provides a summary of the evolution of textile displays. We then discuss recent achievements in the field, including applications of textile displays, advances in active materials, designs of interfaces between the active layer and fibre electrodes, developments in display modules, and integration of textile displays with multiple electronic functions. Finally, we highlight the potential challenges of textile displays for practical applications and suggesting future research directions in this exciting field. This Perspective highlights the design concepts, fabrication strategies and recent achievements in textile displays, including promising applications, advances in luminescent materials, design of device interfaces, development of display modules, integration of displaying systems and the remaining challenges.