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[Display omitted] • A flexible and highly sensitive strain sensor was developed by using carbonized biomass Juncus effusus fiber. • The 3D fractal composite structure showed robust mechanical strength and excellent sensitivity. • Reliable sensing performance was achieved with mechanism revealed. • Potential applications include health care monitoring and human motion monitoring were demonstrated. • The promising potential of energy conversion and harvesting was demonstrated. Fabricating strain sensors with environmental-friendly, stretchable, and highly sensitive properties remains challenging. Nature has designed an abundance of biomaterials with distinctive biological structures, which may promote the development of ideal strain sensors. Herein, we present a carbonized Juncus effusus (CJE) fiber-based wearable electronic for strain sensing and energy harvesting. The CJE strain sensor demonstrated a combined superiority of large tolerable strain (over 80%), high sensitivity (GF 4.5–31.0), low detection limit (0.1% strain), fast response (within 100 ms), and excellent durability (3500 cycles), which benefit from the self-similar and homogenous three-dimensional (3D) networks of CJE fibers. Moreover, CJE-based woven fabrics exhibited enhanced sensing characteristics (GF up to 101.9, over 110% strain) and great application prospects as triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Finally, the applications in detecting human activities and energy transformation were evaluated in detail. The structural advantages made CJE as a promising candidate for the feasible integration of flexible strain sensors and portable power source in wearable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A core-sheath sensing yarns was fabricated via scalable friction spinning. • The yarn exhibited excellent heat resistance and stretchability simultaneously. • High-temperature alarm could be transmitted through stretching and thermosensation. Electronic textiles with functions of temperature monitoring and human motion detection have attracted considerable interest, especially those which can be operated under extreme conditions such as high temperature. However, the restricted working conditions and poor stretchability have limited the practical application of most reported electronic textiles. Herein, we report a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate flame-resistant sensing yarn with a core–sheath structure for temperature monitoring and strain sensor applications via a large-scale spinning technique. The hierarchical yarn comprises a spandex filament as the core, carbon nanotube (CNT)-coated aramid fibers as the middle layer, and aramid fibers as the sheath. The obtained spandex/CNT@Aramid/Aramid (SCAA) yarn exhibited stretchability up to 160 % with excellent thermal resistance, outstanding thermal insulation performance, and temperature monitoring ability within a wide-range of 50–400 °C. Additionally, SCAA-based textiles showed excellent strain sensing performance in a wide operating temperature range (0–300 °C). Based on the above, a SCAA-based textiles which can transmit high-temperature alarms through active (stretching) and passive (thermosensation) modes was designed, enabling temperature monitoring presenting at extremely high temperatures. We believe this work will contribute to the development of practical sensing e-textiles towards applications in harsh environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Implementing in situ hydrothermal growth of Cu NPs on textiles. • Introducing polydopamine as a template to facilitate growing nanoparticles. • Fibrous structure has been preserved with nanoparticles deposited on fibers. • Durable and highly-flexible textile based wearable sensor was developed. Incorporating conductive components into fibrous structure for wearable applications has attracted research attention recently. However, utilizing the flexibility and wearability of textiles to maintain a stable and durable wearable performance is a big challenge, as the intrinsic properties of textiles and the conductivity of the incorporated components have to work synergically in the fibrous system without compromising. In this work, polydopamine-templated PET fabrics were prepared to grow copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) on the surface of the knitted PET fabrics. The surface morphology, chemical composition and crystalline structure of the Cu NP-coated PET fabrics were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that Cu NP layer was successfully deposited onto the polydopamine-templated PET fabrics. The fabrics showed excellent electrical conductivity due to the loading of Cu NPs. The unique knitted structure together with the durable deposition of Cu NPs resulted in negative change in electrical resistance of the fabrics under strains, granting the fabrics the potential in wearable applications. The Cu NP-coated PET fabrics were demonstrated to be applicable as wearable strain sensors and electrical heaters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]