Color-tunable light-emitting fibers for pattern displaying textiles

Abstract

Flexible displays for visual transmission and interaction are indispensable in wearable electronics. Color-tunable light-emitting fibers (CLFs) with wide gamut are promising candidates to realize full-color pattern displaying for smart electronic textiles, but have not been reported yet. Herein, thousands of meters of color-tunable light-emitting fibers with multilayer coaxial structure are fabricated by a facile step-by-step solution deposition process. Real-time color tuning is achieved by mixing luminescent spectra from ZnS:Cu and ZnS:Mn phosphor layers with different dielectric constants under external electric fields. The CLFs could emit colors from orange, white, blue to blue-violet by varying the applied voltages. The luminescence performances of the light-emitting fibers are well maintained under long-term high temperature and ultra-violet radiation tests, and after 10 000 cycles of folding deformation. The luminescence intensity varied less than 10% along the fiber with an investigated length of 100 meters. These light-emitting fibers are precisely woven into smart electronic textiles displaying desirable colorful patterns.