Body-coupled luminescent fibers enable wireless visual sensing of contacting media

Abstract

Fiber electronics-enabled smart textiles are highly desirable for applications such as biosensing, personal healthcare, and human-machine interactions. Previous works on fiber electronics have focused on optimizing the sensitivity/accuracy of electronic signals, whereas user-centric visual interfaces have not been extensively explored. Additionally, current optical sensing mechanisms face challenges in power supply, system integration, and scalable manufacturing. Here, we introduce a body-coupled visual sensing mechanism that utilizes ambient electromagnetic energy as a power source. This mechanism enables independent sensing of multiple nodes on a single fiber without the need for additional electronic components integrated into the fiber. Moreover, continuous manufacturing of this visual sensing fiber has been successfully achieved, ensuring compatibility with modern weaving techniques. We also demonstrate the applications of this visual fiber electronic device in touch sensing, humidity sensing, and solvent polarity detection. These findings provide a feasible strategy for future advancements in user-interactive visual fiber electronics.