TACTIL

Project objectives

Smart textile undergoes an explosive industrial development, thanks to its ability to actively interact with its environment. In this favourable economic context, photochromic dye are only used to elaborate passive smart textile that change of color only with poor commercial success.

The objective of the TACTIL project is to develop innovative, active photochromic fibres that can simultaneously change their macroscopic shape and color under light irradiation. As an alternative to the well-known azobene liquid crystalline polymer system, the smart fiber will incorporate a diarylethene photoswitches . To minimize the risks, a double chemical approach either supramolecular or covalent has been chosen to realize the photomechanical coating (combination of functionalized DTE and elastomer) , prior its application on synthetic monofilaments or cotton fibers to design the smart fibers.

This project is structured in three main stages, i.e., (i) smart thin film formulation, (ii) smart fibers functionalization, and (iii) photomechanical response study in order to demonstrate the reality of such concept.