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Electronic fibers/textiles have great potential for applications in smart wearables due to their excellent flexibility, air permeability, and wearing comfort. However, it is still challenging to produce reliable electronic textiles at low cost and in a large scale. Herein, we report a spraying‐spinning process for fabricating electronic yarns with excellent stability and durability. Cotton sliver, which is the raw material for spinning conventional cotton yarns, was spray coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and spun on an Ag@nylon yarn, forming a sheath‐core structured CNT@cotton‐Ag@nylon yarn (CCAY). The process is continuous, large‐scalable, applicable to other raw fiber materials and compatible with traditional textile processes. The as‐prepared CCAY showed superior mechanical durability, washability, and conductivity to typical surface coated yarns. It can be easily processed or integrated into textiles through weaving, knitting, sewing, and embroidering. We systematically studied the electromechanical, electro‐thermal, and photothermal performance of CCAY based yarns/fabrics, demonstrating its versatile applications in smart textiles. In addition, CCAY can be further equipped with other features, such as electro‐thermochromic functions, pH sensing and flame resistant abilities. Considering the large‐scalability, versatility, and low‐cost, we foresee that this spraying‐spinning process for electronic yarns may play important roles in the development of practical smart fibers/textiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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PAN/PEG/CNT/cotton composite yarn (PPCCY) was fabricated by impregnating PEG2000–10000 into CNT/cotton yarn (CCY) and coating electrospun PAN around its surface. The effects of PEG type on the morphology, structure, electrical resistance and phase change behavior of the produced composite yarns were studied thoroughly by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal gravimetric(TG), electrical resistance tester and infrared thermal images. The experimental results indicated that the resulting compound yarn consisted of conductive yarn within which the spacing between cotton fibers was fulfilled by PEG, rendering phase transition enthalpy from 126–150 Jg−1. The composite yarn exhibited adjustable temperature and thermal storage and electrical conductivity abilities. The composite yarn demonstrated good responsive properties to external electrical and thermal stimuli and had reversible heat conversion and storage, which shows a promise for applications in electrical wearable fabrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanofibers are ideal for the fabrication of fiber-based sensors owing to the wide applicability of such sensors in various fields. However, achieving high sensitivity and excellent tensile properties while maintaining high electrical conductivity in such sensors is difficult. This study proposes a simple fabrication method for a helical conductive yarn, core–sheath helical yarn (CSHY), in which the electrospun thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) /boron nitride (BN) film is used as the fibrous material and coated with a liquid metal (LM), EGaIn. The fiber is then stretched and twisted to obtain the CSHY with high sensitivity, tensile stability, and durability as well as fast response and recovery. Experimental results show that the sensor fabricated by weaving the CSHY has a water contact angle of 143.2°, indicating that it can be used for human motion monitoring and underwater applications. In addition, the LM has excellent electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity and exhibits a synergistic effect with BN that is uniformly arranged along the fiber length. Thus, the fabric-based sensor exhibits excellent heat-dissipation, temperature-sensing, and electric-heating performances. Consequently, the proposed multifunctional smart yarn exhibits excellent strain sensing, self-controlled thermal management, and hydrophobic performance, with potential applications in future wearable electronics. • A strain sensitive and multifunctional smart yarn was fabricated with a core–sheath helical structure. • The yarn exhibited excellent strain sensing performance even underwater. • Potential applications include temperature monitoring, thermal management and joule heating were demonstrated. [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]