It's the biggest development in fabric since synthetics
Researchers are hard at work on light-emitting fabrics that will one day illuminate our wardrobes, bedrooms and living rooms. At the Philips Photonic Textiles Business Group in the Netherlands, Martijn Krans and his team are hell-bent on liberating computer chips and processors from the square grey boxes currently stacked up in our homes and offices. "We see electronics integrated into our environment," says Krans.
The team started by searching for ways to make our living spaces less dependent on traditional lighting and more attuned to our fluctuating moods - something they call "ambience intelligence". Then they realised that even before we surround ourselves with electrical and electronic gadgets, we're enveloped by clothes, household linen and furnishings.
Their first step was to incorporate small multicoloured LEDs (light-emitting diodes - a diode being a type of semiconductor) into cloth, and do that without compromising the fabric's flexibility. "It had to be highly soft and tactile, but also robust," Krans says.
The creations, called photonic textiles, start with shiny fabrics to diffuse the light, boosting the effect of the LEDs without overcrowding the cloth. Prototypes have included a brightly lit reading pillow, a sofa cushion that changes colour, and backpacks that flash pre-programmed messages or play music videos when connected to an MP3 player. "People want to personalise the mobile phone with wallpapers," says Krans. "Now they can do the same with their backpack."
Since the technology was unveiled last September, Philips has been inundated with inquiries from manufacturers wanting to incorporate it into their products - from cars to corporate furniture and ski apparel. Of course, Krans believes the illuminated fabric idea is particularly suited to fashion where "one day red is in, the next it's something else". It can also be used to ensure the safety of road workers and bikers.
The prototype devices are powered by ordinary AA batteries, but the researchers are working on other possibilities including wearable, foldable batteries that recharge with movement and a powered coathanger that refreshes a garment while it is in a wardrobe.
Joe Merola, programme manager at the Melbourne-based International Fibre Centre (IFC), a government-owned agency located at Deakin University, sees many more applications for photonics.
"We can talk about using the illuminating capabilities [of photonics] in carpets to give directions. But where power sources in fibres and yarns are most beneficial to humanity is in the medical area," he says. Clothing that incorporates its own power source could be useful in helping patients maintain optimum body temperature, improve blood circulation, even monitor the wearer's heart rate before transmitting details to their doctor wirelessly or downloading them to a computer.
Researchers are now looking to incorporate tiny lamps into garments that will emit ultraviolet light for therapeutic purposes and that respond to variations in room temperature, warming up on a cold day and cooling the wearer in summer. "Every institution with a textile department is now experimenting with this kind of technology, but commercialisation is harder," Merola says.
German company Interactive Wear has already developed a prototype jacket that incorporates a digital music player complete with on-sleeve keyboard for music control at one's fingertips. Other experimental garments are powered by the thermal energy generated by the wearer.
In Geelong, the CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology research centre is developing ways to incorporate "smart yarns" into products. The project, being run in partnership with the NanoTech Institute of the University of Texas, aims to incorporate nanotubes - minute, powerful carbon cylinders that can be used in electronic systems - into materials.
Ken Atkinson, the project leader, notes the real driving force behind all these fabric developments is the potential for military applications. Self-powered garments could one day help soldiers harvest energy and water from their environment, protect against bullets and also change colour in different surroundings to ensure the perfect camouflage. "The military have some very specific uses," says Atkinson. "Provided the cost is feasible, as there's human life involved, the application is justified."
Commercial release of an electronic textile, however, will take some time because, unlike the self-cleaning fabric produced by textile workers in the 1951 British comedy The Man in the White Suit, these designs are not yet dirt-repellent.
"Would you go to the ski fields or the beach in clothes made of a fabric that you can never wash?" says Atkinson. "With fabrics, laundering is the big issue."
