STELEC, short for Sustainable Textile ELECtronics, is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under the Pathfinder programmes in the responsible electronics topic seeking cutting-edge innovation with an end goal at TRL 2-3. The project is a multinational collaboration of research institutes, universities and companies across Europe. It aims at developing next generation textile-based electronics in applications from sensing, processing to AI, with a commitment to full lifecycle sustainability.
Context and overall objectives
E-textiles are rapidly emerging as an important area of electronic circuits applications. The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) expects that the EU market for e-textiles and textile wearables reaches €1.5 billion in 2025 and will be a significant factor for an important European industry sector. It is also a facilitator for many socially important applications such as personalized health, elderly care, and smart agriculture. Unfortunately, the environmental impact and sustainability of e-textiles remain very problematic.
With e-textiles, electronic circuits are entering a new application domain increasing the number of devices that need to be produced and recycled. The vision behind e-textiles as part of Internet of Things is that intelligence (electronic components) will diffuse into more and more everyday objects, eventually leading to electronics being virtually everywhere in the environment, so that we are looking at a potentially huge environmental impact. E-textiles are particularly difficult in terms of recycling and re-use. This is because in general they involve electronic components being deeply embedded in textile substrates. Before recycling/reuse the two need to be separated which is a non-trivial task that disrupts established recycling/re-use chains. Furthermore, the focus of research and development so far has been on overcoming the challenges involved in producing cost effective and robust conductive textile structures with little regard for environmental impact and sustainability.
STELEC aims to address the sustainability issue of next generation textile electronics, specifically through the following objectives:
To develop sustainable, environmentally friendly materials for textile electronics that are recyclable and have advanced electrical properties. This involves improving conductive textiles and beyond, as well as creating models to predict their performance under various conditions.
To develop sustainable textile electronics devices using innovative materials and manufacturing processes, such as printing and embroidery, that reduce environmental impact. The project aims to create basic electronic components, circuits, sensing and communication functionality, and power sources all within textile technology, with the ability to simulate and analyze their properties in various settings.
To develop environmentally sustainable production and recycling processes for textile electronics, specifically focusing on fibers and textiles that incorporate certain materials. This includes designing processes for extracting reusable materials from old textiles to promote a circular economy.
To validate proof-of-concept by implementing and evaluating individual devices and sensors in various textiles, and developing relevant use cases for simple circuits. This involves creating simplified versions of specific circuits and testing them in textile applications.
To develop life cycle sustainability models and assessments for textile electronics, comparing different technologies and creating a decision support tool to aid in designing environmentally friendly e-textiles.
