In this section
The long-term vision of the Intelligent Textiles for Health Research, Engineering, Augmentation, and Design Lab (I-THREAD Lab) is to revolutionise and pioneer advanced textiles for Health, Sustainability, and Beyond through transdisciplinary strategies.
The I-THREAD Laboratory focuses on developing and applying flexible devices for human-oriented applications through multidisciplinary, multiscale, and AI-assisted engineering approaches. Our research includes intelligent wearable devices for monitoring applications, closed-loop diagnostic and therapeutic biomedical systems, functional and smart textiles (including electronic fibers, intelligent yarns and fabrics, silk protein materials, and biomedical textiles), augmented sensing technologies powered by AI for human-robot interaction, renewable energy harvesting devices, and large-scale fabrication and manufacturing technologies for producing textile devices.
As global challenges in healthcare and sustainability continue to intensify, the integration of intelligent textiles with multidisciplinary technologies offers transformative opportunities to address these critical issues. Our research focuses on the development of advanced wearable devices and closed-loop biomedical systems, designed to provide accessible and cost-effective personalized healthcare solutions. Beyond advancing healthcare innovation, our work also contributes to the design of renewable energy harvesting systems, aligning with the urgent need for environmental sustainability. By leveraging scalable manufacturing techniques, we aim to deliver impactful, bench-to-bedside solutions that benefit both society and technological progress.
Our work aims to benefit patients by enabling continuous health monitoring, accurate diagnostics, and personalized therapies through intelligent wearable devices and close-loop biomedical systems. These innovations improve treatment outcomes, enhance patient comfort, and reduce the burden on traditional healthcare systems. By integrating renewable energy solutions, we also ensure sustainable and cost-effective medical devices. Additionally, our augmented sensing technologies support advanced rehabilitation and assistive systems, enhancing interactions among surgeons, patients, and robotic systems to improve healthcare outcomes.
Dr Liyun Ma
Assistant Professor
@article{Nie:2026:10.1016/j.cej.2026.173386,
author = {Nie, D and Zhang, S and Zheng, Y and Hu, X and Chen, J and Yan, Z and Zhou, J and Ma, L and Lin, N},
doi = {10.1016/j.cej.2026.173386},
journal = {Chemical Engineering Journal},
title = {Surface functionalization of water transportation management yarns for bioinspired humidity sensors},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.173386},
volume = {530},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Humidity sensors play crucial roles in various industries and daily life by measuring the amount of water vapor in the air or other gases, and their continued miniaturization and flexibilization are expanding their applications to wearable devices. However, stability defects such as interface charge transfer fluctuations induced by deformation and baseline drift caused by cross-interference of temperature and humidity need to be overcome urgently. In this study, inspired by the water collection ability and transportation ability of spider silk structures, a flexible and sensitive fiber humidity sensor is constructed by surface functionalization of profiled fibers using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). Notably, the fiber humidity sensor exhibits fast response (4 s) and recovery time (29 s), a broad operation range (6–85% relative humidity), outstanding linearity, repeatability, and stability. This is attributed to the moisture absorption advantages of the bionic groove structure and weak hydrophilicity of the profiled fibers, as well as the rapid moisture adsorption and desorption capacity and structural performance stability under bending deformation of the continuous lamellar PEDOT:PSS. The yarn can be used not only for diagnosing breathing patterns and monitoring the breathing rate and depth, but also shows potential application value in non-contact human-computer interaction and other fields.
AU - Nie,D
AU - Zhang,S
AU - Zheng,Y
AU - Hu,X
AU - Chen,J
AU - Yan,Z
AU - Zhou,J
AU - Ma,L
AU - Lin,N
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2026.173386
PY - 2026///
SN - 1385-8947
TI - Surface functionalization of water transportation management yarns for bioinspired humidity sensors
T2 - Chemical Engineering Journal
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.173386
VL - 530
ER -
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