Recently, the Energy Storage R&D Center of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences has made important progress in thermally drawn multifunctional fibers for a new generation of information technology. , summarizes the preparation process, internal structure, performance improvement and information interaction function of thermally drawn multifunctional composite fibers.

Heat-drawn functional fibers used in information technology, including five senses ("vision", "hearing", "smell", "taste", "touch") fibers, chip-integrated fibers, biochemical probe fibers, nerve probe fibers and Energy harvesting/storage fibers, picture from Energy Storage R&D Center, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The aforementioned studies provide research ideas for the future development of thermally drawn multifunctional fibers in the field of information technology, as well as key scientific issues to be solved. The relevant results were published in the "Information Materials" (InfoMat).

Image via InfoMat

Optical fiber has been widely used in the fields of Internet, communication and medical treatment, which has promoted the development of modern information society. Inspired by the preparation technology of optical fiber "preform-fiber", a variety of functional materials were integrated into a single fiber, and a multifunctional composite fiber material based on the thermal drawing method was developed.
At present, thermally drawn functional fibers have achieved photoelectric detection, imaging, acoustic and electrical detection, chemical sensing, tactile sensing, biological detection, energy collection and storage, data storage and information processing, etc. Broad application potential in the new generation of information technology. In addition to their original light-guiding functions, these flexible fibers can also be woven into fabrics, helping to realize large-scale personal health monitoring and interpersonal communication.
In this regard, the Energy Storage R&D Center conducts research on "seeing", "listening", "smell", "taste" and "touch" five sense fibers, health monitoring fibers, neural probes, integrated circuit fibers and energy fibers, and summarizes the Preparation process, internal structure, performance improvement and information interaction function of multifunctional composite fibers. In addition, the team's research analyzed and prospected the key scientific problems and solutions of thermally drawn multifunctional composite fibers, as well as all-fiber devices for the new generation of information technology.
The aforementioned work has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Scientific Instrument Development Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Light Power Innovation Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has been supported by the research teams of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Jilin University.