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Review
. 2023 Apr 13;11(8):1115.
doi: 10.3390/healthcare11081115.

Advanced and Smart Textiles during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Issues, Challenges, and Innovations

Aleksandra Ivanoska-Dacikj  1 , Yesim Oguz-Gouillart  2 , Gaffar Hossain  3 , Müslüm Kaplan  4 , Çağlar Sivri  5 , José Vicente Ros-Lis  6 , Daiva Mikucioniene  7 , Muhammad Usman Munir  7 , Nuray Kizildag  8   9 , Serkan Unal  9   10 , Ivo Safarik  11   12 , Esra Akgül  13 , Nida Yıldırım  14 , Ayşe Çelik Bedeloğlu  15 , Ömer Faruk Ünsal  15 , Gordon Herwig  16 , René M Rossi  16 , Peter Wick  17 , Pietro Clement  17 , A Sezai Sarac  18
Affiliations
Review

Advanced and Smart Textiles during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Issues, Challenges, and Innovations

Aleksandra Ivanoska-Dacikj et al. Healthcare (Basel). .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has hugely affected the textile and apparel industry. Besides the negative impact due to supply chain disruptions, drop in demand, liquidity problems, and overstocking, this pandemic was found to be a window of opportunity since it accelerated the ongoing digitalization trends and the use of functional materials in the textile industry. This review paper covers the development of smart and advanced textiles that emerged as a response to the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. We extensively cover the advancements in developing smart textiles that enable monitoring and sensing through electrospun nanofibers and nanogenerators. Additionally, we focus on improving medical textiles mainly through enhanced antiviral capabilities, which play a crucial role in pandemic prevention, protection, and control. We summarize the challenges that arise from personal protective equipment (PPE) disposal and finally give an overview of new smart textile-based products that emerged in the markets related to the control and spread reduction of SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; medical textiles; smart textiles; telemedicine; textiles for diagnostic and prevention of diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 5
Figure 5
Skiin biosensing garment by Myant (a) [194]; Myant gloves and masks (b) [195] (reproduced with permission from Myant); sensor-integrated protective wearables for the early detection of SARS-CoV-2 before (left) and after contamination (right) (c) [196]; Osmotex sterilizer: structure [197] (top), mask prototype [189] (bottom) (d) (reproduced with permission from Osmotex); Hexoskin proshirts (e) [198] (reproduced with permission from Hexoskin); and Maturolife project shoe sole prototyping for walking pattern (left) and E-Fashion2 project movement sensor prototyping (right) (f) [199] (reproduced with permission from IFTH).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Filtration efficiency and air permeability as driving factors for community mask development. Categorization of face mask types (A) [15], air permeability limited by fiber architecture (B) [25], the established layer structure of community masks with nanofibrous non-woven fabrics as a filter (C) [20], and viral distribution per layer after simulated use in common face mask types (D) [36]. (A,B,D) Reproduced under CC BY 4.0 (C) Reproduced with permission from the American Physical Society.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Zero-waste approaches to address COVID-19 waste.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Classification of supersets of electronic textiles [148]. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Working mechanism of a mask−based respiration sensor [187]. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier. (b) Image of a triboelectric component integrated into a face mask [187]. Reproduced with permission from Elsevier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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