Invito a Presentazione Orale in International Istanbul Textile Congress 2013", Instanbul, Turkey (Data:31-May/1-June 2013 Argomento/Contributo: Electrospun Smart Fabrics Towards Wearable Sensors)

Recently a great number of studies reported noteworthy results about electrospun nanofibrous based sensors. Such nanostructured materials, mainly due to the enhancement of their surface area to volume ratios, achieved two additional and essential features for sensors: high sensitivity and fast response time. Therefore, electrospinning technique has been confirmed to be a relatively simple and cost-effective technology capable of producing materials with a huge increasing of sorption sites within a single step. Slight modifications of the starting solution are sufficient to change remarkably the fiber-tissue structure and then the sensing properties. The ability to manufacture a wide variety of fabrics (eg. conformable, biocompatible, water-resistant, etc.) enclosing interacting materials to gases and VOCs, gives the electrospinning technique the opportunity to provide potential wearable sensor systems for diagnostic (physiological and biochemical parameters) as well as monitoring applications (toxics in environment). The combination of electrospun sensors and printable microelectronics, will make available recording, analyzing, storing, sending and displaying data, which is a new dimension if smart systems. They should extend the users' senses providing useful information anytime and anywhere the users go. Suitable electrospun conductive polymers (CPs) have been specifically designed and investigated for developing potentially wearable smart sensors whose electrical properties change upon interactions with the analytes. Therefore the sensing properties of such nanofibres, mainly made of polymer blends and hybrid materials, have been explored and compared in order to understand their features as suitable sensors for gas traces, overall for biomedical devices. Some suitable nanostructured sensors and sensor arrays will be described according to the clinical application of interest