Surface-engineered, mechanically durable, and microelectronic-integrated textile for high-performance multimodal piezoresistive smart wearables

Textiles have become an ideal substrate for preparing wearable pressure sensors, attributed to their unique advantages of good flexibility, resilience, breathability, and low production cost. However, current textile-based pressure sensors still face some challenges, such as poor compatibility and weak adhesion between conductive substances and fibers, which may cause the conductive coating to break down and peel off during friction and washing, thereby reducing the sensor's conductivity, long-term stability, and service life. To solve the above issues, this study developed a durable and scalable textile-based piezoresistive sensor using a polyester nonwoven textile as a substrate by successively forming a polypyrrole coating, chemically plating copper nanoparticles (CuNPs), and polymerizing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on the surface. This layer-by-layer self-assembly process and microelectronic integration on textile surfaces did not rely on adhesives or glues, but rather the construction of conductive coatings and microstructures in situ through intermolecular hydrogen bonding and metal-ligand interactions, which enhanced the durability of the coatings, the stability of the interfaces, and the sensitivity of the sensing networks. When used as a piezoresistive sensing device, it could build pressure sensor arrays and monitor real-time human motion signals, demonstrating broad application prospects in emerging fields such as wearable electronics and health management. • Proposing a durable material design approach based on layer-by-layer self-assembly. • Strategies for improving e -Textile with electronic integration and stable interfaces. • Offering broad applications for the growing incidence of piezoresistive sensors. • E -textile has superior sensitivity and a wider response range than the other reports.