Sustainable development of smart textiles : a review of ‘self-functioning’ abilities which makes textiles alive

Abstract

Smart textiles, which are the textiles with innovative and technological applications, can receive and give responses to the external stimuli so as to accommodate themselves to changes in surrounding. ‘Self-functioning’ is an ability of a matter for performing a specific process or response on its own automatically towards a corresponding requirement. In recent decades, the implementation of smart textiles with various ‘self-functioning’ capabilities has been opened up increasingly. It would be a vital role for maintaining the sustainability of textile and clothing industry. In this paper, a general review of smart textiles with the three ‘self-functioning’ abilities is addressed and divided into the following sections: a. Smart fabrics with ‘self-cleaning’ ability; b. Smart textiles with ‘self-healing’ ability and c. Smart textile apparels with ‘self-thermoregulation’ ability.