![]() ![]() Molecular-scale processes may give too low contrast (Raisch et al. The advancing class of mechanochromic polymers 16, which change their visual appearance in response to mechanical deformation, can be very powerful in this context if the right type is used. If the textile fibres themselves are made from a durable responsive material, doors open for fully autonomous smart textiles. The actual textile often remains passive, acting as a carrier for electronics that provide functionality but also require a complex device architecture and a power supply, sometimes inhibiting wearing comfort and washability. Smart textiles, capable of sensing and responding to stimuli from the environment 1, 2, are gaining increasing attention across fields as diverse as health care 2, 3, sports 4 and fashion 5, motivated by opportunities in, for example, wearable technology 6, 7, 8, 9 and robotics 6, 10, biosensing 11, 12, data collection 13, 14 and information processing 11, 12, 15. ![]() This approach and resulting fibres may be useful for applications in wearable technology and other areas benefiting from autonomous strain sensing or detection of critically strong deformations. ![]() Moreover, the fibres can be sewed into garments and withstand repeated stretching and regular machine washing. ![]() These filaments have fast, progressive and reversible mechanochromic responses, from red to blue (wavelength shift of 155 nm), when stretched up to 200%. Here, we report a simple approach that balances the viscoelastic properties of the precursor solution to avoid this outcome and achieve long and mechanically robust cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer filaments. Nonetheless, making liquid crystalline elastomer fibres suitable for textiles is challenging since the Plateau–Rayleigh instability tends to break up precursor solutions into droplets. Cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers have strong mechanochromic responses that offer attractive opportunities for such applications. Mechanically responsive textiles have transformative potential in many areas from fashion to healthcare. ![]()
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