Wash-stable electrospun piezopolymer textiles

Smart textiles are currently being pursued for actuation and sensing for their potential to directly incorporate “intelligence” into the fabric, in contrast to wearable technologies. In smart textiles, smart materials (e.g., piezoelectric) are formed into yarns that are woven into fabrics for clothing. One immediate requirement for such textiles is their stability during washing cycles, as expected of any clothing items, which has been largely lacking so far. Here, we investigate the washing stability of nanofibrous piezoelectric textiles. Our results reveal that electrospun textiles exhibit remarkable structural stability from the fiber microstructure to the textile level. Overall fiber crystalline composition and electroactive $\beta$ phase remain stable within 1% of ~47% and ~85%, respectively. Mechanically, the textile displays sustained performance, with only negligible changes observed. The yield strain and stress only show a ~8% and 9% differences, respectively. Moreover, piezoelectric stability is confirmed through $\beta$ phase preservation and slight variation in voltage output of ~6%. These results prove the candidacy that the processing of electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) fibers to woven textiles is applicable to the demands of smart textiles, which is expected to accelerate the commercialization of such textiles for wearable robotics and health monitoring.