Recyclable and Healable Electro-Optical Fiber for Sensing and Information Transmission

Electro-optical fibers with dual-mode sensing ability show broad potential in wearable electronics and intelligent human-machine interaction. However, the complex multi-step preparation procedures and the limited environmental adaptivity in materials (stretchability, healability, recyclability, etc.) hinder its practical applications. Herein, based on a urea-oxime polyurethane, a fiber integrating dual-mode electrical sensing and two-color light-emitting functions is developed using a one-step continuous coaxial wet-spinning process, with luminescent sulfides-doped shell layer and an ionogel conductive core layer. The fiber exhibits excellent mechanical, electrical, and optical healing capabilities with efficiencies of 94%, 92%, and 99%, which can be quickly recycled within 30 minutes. Utilizing the electro-optical bimodular perceptive fiber, multi-scenario applications including insect phototaxis monitoring, luminous wearables, and smart tripwires are demonstrated, revealing the healing superiority in programming complex fiber architectures to adapt to substrates with shape or size diversity. Moreover, a healing-programmed fiber with tailored segments is demonstrated for electro-optical hybrid encrypted information transmission. This work inspires a promising healing-programming strategy of healable electro-optical fibers for wide applications in tactile sensing and information communicating.