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Page 20 of 57 Zheng et al. Soft Sci. 2026, 6, 32

Beyond energy storage, extracting mechanical energy from the environment is another essential component
of self-powered devices. Because of their flexible material and structural design, TENGs have become an
important energy harvesting technology. Graphene-based conductive fibers are suited for building
high-performance electrodes in fiber-shaped TENGs. For example, Xiong et al. achieved direct integration of
TENGs into textiles via a scalable spinning-knitting process, enabling dual functions of energy harvesting
and motion sensing , and Shi et al. showed that a composite nanofiber membrane TENG fabricated via
[94]
electrospinning could output high voltages, directly powering small electronic devices as shown in Figure
7F . Graphene can be used with natural polymers or elastomers to improve a device’s mechanical
[93]
adaptability or environmental friendliness, opening up new possibilities for personalized electronic textiles.
Figure 7G illustrates a variety of application concepts. In a TENG with graphene electrodes and cellulose
nanocrystals as the friction layer, Alghamdi et al. showed long-term output stability [100] . Chen et al. used
3D-printed graphene/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) core-sheath fibers to create stretchy, washable smart
textiles, providing new methods for creating self-powered personalized healthcare electrical textiles .
[101]

Integrated, self-powered fiber systems are the direction of future trends. By carrying out “segment-selective
functionalization” on individual fibers, Yao et al. produced tiny integrated devices that allowed for the
integration of energy conversion and storage units across several segments [102] . A more sophisticated
approach is creating “structure-function integrated” smart composites by directly incorporating energy
storage capabilities into structural fibers. Graphene soft conductive fiber exhibits great potential as a crucial
active and reinforcing component in these smart textiles.

Smart actuation and health monitoring
GFs have become the perfect material platform for creating smart textiles that combine “sensing” and
“response” functions due to their extremely sensitive electrical response to external physical and chemical
stimuli and programmable deformation capabilities that can be achieved through structural design. Their
primary application is to connect the intrinsic electrical characteristics of the fibers to mechanical
deformation, environmental changes, or biological signals. This allows for the detection of different signals
or the execution of particular activities.

GFs have exceptional flexibility and integrability in the realm of health monitoring sensors. Cheng et al.
created a “compression spring” strain sensor based on graphene-coated elastic fibers for tracking human
motion. Tensile, bending, and torsional deformations can be distinguished with this structure’s high
sensitivity (detection limit of 0.2% strain) and broad detection range (up to 100% strain) . As seen in Figure
[95]
7H, it has been effectively used to monitor robotic actions and human joint movements. Cai et al. used
hydrospinning to create GF textiles for biochemical sensing ; Figure 7I displays photos and SEM images.
[1]
They created a flexible electrochemical glucose sensor with great sensitivity (1,539.53 μA·mM ·cm ) after
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immobilizing glucose oxidase and modifying it with Prussian blue. This allowed for non-invasive monitoring
of glucose in sweat on the skin’s surface [Figure 7J]. Multi-sensing integrated multimodal smart textiles are
an important area of research to enable more thorough physiological state assessment. A fabric based on
graphene/Fe (MoO ) /thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) micro-nano porous fibers was created by Zhang
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4 3
et al. The simultaneous, interference-free real-time detection of temperature and pressure (e.g., pulse) is
made possible by these fibers’ thermoelectric and triboelectric response properties. This integrated solution
provides a promising method for monitoring cardiovascular health with a high temperature sensitivity
coefficient β of 4,994.55 K .
[103]
GFs in smart actuation go beyond “sensing” to “responding”. To create bionic “artificial muscle” fibers, one
important strategy is to combine them with stimulus-responsive polymers like liquid crystal elastomers
(LCEs). Inspired by skeletal muscle, Kim et al. created graphene/LCE composite fiber bundles that, when