Flexible AIE/PCM composite fiber with biosensing of alcohol, fluorescent anti-counterfeiting and body thermal management functions

Alcohol sensing plays a critical role in medical detection and personal health management. AIE materials with high sensitivity, selectivity and fast response have been widely used in biosensing, but their application in the field of alcohol sensing still needs further research and development. Furthermore, developing flexible phase change materials (PCMs) is significant for the research of human-body thermal management. In this study, a kind of flexible polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/polyethylene glycol (PEG)/Py-CH (pyrene-based AIE molecule)/SiO₂@h-BN composite fiber textile (PAB) with alcohol sensing performance, writable fluorescence property, and human body thermal management function has been prepared via electrospinning technique. The PAN/PVP fiber matrix successfully integrated AIE fluorescent sensing material and PCM into a multi-functional composite with great shape stability. Owing to the introduction of novel pyrene-based Py-CH with AIE characteristic, this innovative textile exhibited wonderful fluorescent properties, including sensitive alcohol fluorescence sensing, writable fluorescence performance and variable temperature fluorescence. Furthermore, proposed PAB textile delivered a high energy storage density of 87∼90 J/g, excellent thermal reliability, great comprehensive mechanical flexibility and enhanced thermal conductivity for flexible human body thermal management. Hence, this flexible multifunctional AIE/PCM composite sensing textiles can be widely used in alcohol sensing, fluorescence anti-counterfeiting and flexible body thermal management.