Natural biomass-derived polysaccharide materials for flexible wearable smart textiles

Driven by rapid advancements in science and technology, public demand for textiles is undergoing a notable shift—moving beyond traditional fundamental functions such as warmth and aesthetics towards intelligent and functional directions. Natural biomass-derived polysaccharides are identified as critical materials for next-gen flexible wearable smart textiles due to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, renewability, and unique chemical structures. Herein, this review presents an overview of some common natural biomass-derived polysaccharide materials for preparing flexible wearable smart textiles. It also introduces the basic structural features of common natural biomass-derived polysaccharides and discusses relevant modification methods. Moreover, current preparation methods of natural biomass-derived polysaccharide materials for flexible wearable smart textiles are systematically summarized, and an in-depth exploration is carried out to dissect their respective advantages and inherent limitations. This review also summarizes the performance characteristics, action mechanisms, and applicable scenarios of flexible wearable smart textiles based on natural polysaccharide materials. Concurrently, it discusses and analyzes the applications of flexible wearable smart textiles based on natural polysaccharide materials in healthcare, motion tracking, smart clothing, and energy storage and management. Finally, existing challenges and potential directions in the field of natural polysaccharide materials-integrated smart textile systems are comprehensively summarized and presented. Overall, such insights are expected to steer the development of more efficient green flexible wearable devices based on these smart textiles.