Feature: Wearables Figure 3: M. Takumi and M. Shiomi with the PIECLEX fabric


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ike everything in our life, technological advances have improved the functionalities and comfort of our everyday systems and devices, and textiles are no exception.


Many companies are now looking to wearable devices, which blend textiles with electronics – and Murata is one of them. However, wearable textiles are


designed to do just that – be worn – and as such are subject to odours and sweat from the human body. Conventional antimicrobial and deodorising fibres are treated with chemicals to make them safe and functional. However, the nature of chemicals make these fabrics not friendly to the environment, which starts from their production all the way to their disposal. To solve these problems, Murata Manufacturing and Teijin Frontier joined forces to launch PIECLEX, a company that develops innovative fibres with an entirely new approach to the “stretch- driven antibacterial” properties based on electricity generation.


PIECLEX development Up until now, Murata had a film-type sensor called Picoleaf, that works on the principle of the piezoelectric effect of polylactic acid, or PLA. Following Picoleaf ’s launch, Murata started developing a filament sensor, at the time when wearable electronics were being introduced. However, fitting Picoleaf into wearable clothing had its challenges: OEMs highlighted the problem of bacteria in


www.electronicsworld.co.uk October 2023 25


Figures 4 and 5: Our evaluation equipment, which we developed specifically for the PIECLEX fabric. The cloth samples were populated with bacteria and repeatedly stretched and contracted to evaluate its piezoelectric antimicrobial properties


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