Seamlessly-integrated Textile Electric Circuit Enabled by Self-connecting Interwoven Points

Flexible, breathable and lightweight electronic textiles hold great promise to change the ways we intact with electronics. Electrical connections among functional components are indispensable for system integrations of electronic textiles. However, it remains challenging to achieve mechanically and electrically robust connections to fully integrate with interwoven architecture and weaving process of textiles. Here, we reported a seamlessly-integrated textile electric circuit by weaving conductive fibers with self-connecting capacity at the interwoven points. Self-connecting conductive fibers (SCFs) were prepared by coating modified polyurethane conductive composites onto nylon fibers. Electrical connections were achieved at interwoven points in less than 5 s once the weft and warp SCFs were woven together, due to the designed dynamic bonds of aromatic disulfide metathesis and hydrogen bonds in the modified polyurethane (MPU). The self-connecting point was electrically stable (varied by less than 6.7% in electrical resistance) to withstand repeated deformations of bending, pressing and even folding. Such a self-connecting strategy could be generalized to weave full-textile electronics capable of receiving signals and displaying with enhanced interfacial stability, offering a new way to unify fabrication of electronics and weaving of textiles.