The University of Southampton
×
Electronics and Computer Science
Email:
ky2e09@soton.ac.uk

Dr Kai Yang 

Principal Research Fellow

EPSRC Research Fellow

Dr Kai Yang is a visiting Principal Research Fellow in the Smart Electronic Materials and Systems (SEMS) Research group at the University of Southampton. She obtained her BSc (Hons) in Material Engineering from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China in 2004; and PhD. in Chemistry for the University of Leeds in 2009. She has over 10 years’ experience of e-textiles. Her work primarily focused on the e-textile materials, manufacturing and application development (e.g. healthcare, wearable technologies).

She has been awarded an EPSRC Innovation Fellowship (EP/S001654/1) in 2018 to develop “Advanced E-textiles for Wearable Therapeutics” with the initial application focusing on the osteoarthritis knee joint pain. The technology is also applicable for the knee joint pain caused by other conditions (e.g. injury, post-surgery pain) and other joint pain (e.g. back, shoulder, and hip).

She was PI on the £1.1 million SMARTmove project (www.smartmove.soton.ac.uk) funded by Medical Research Council (MRC). SMARTmove project has developed a textile based wearable Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) training system for stroke upper limb rehabilitation.

She was Co-I of the EPSRC E-textiles Network (www.e-textiles-network.com). The Network is to bring together researchers and developers from academia and industry interested in adding electronic functionality to textiles and their related products. She is Co-Chair for E-textile Conference 2019, 2020, and 2021.

She was the runner-up for the Royal Academy of Engineering ERA Foundation Entrepreneurs Award 2016 and is a RAEng Enterprise Hub member.  She was co-founder of University spin-out company Smart Fabric Inks (www.fabinks.com) which was established based on the know-how on the functional inks she co-developed for printing electronics on textiles. The company has sold inks to 10 countries worldwide. Smart Fabric Inks was a finalist for the Royal Society of Chemistry Emerging Technologies Competition 2017 and Merck Displaying Futures Award 2017.

Research

Research interests

Materials: ink/paste formulations for printed electronics on textiles (interface, encapsulation, conductor, piezoelectric, piezoresistive, electrode), biocompatible and eco-friendly materials.

Manufacturing: screen printing, 3D printing, ink jet printing, coating, dyeing and finishing.

E-textiles for wearable healthcare: stroke rehabilitation, pain relief, assisted living, DVT prevention, lymphedema management.

Publications

Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2012) A novel fabrication process for capacitive cantilever structures for smart fabric applications. Symposium on Design, Test, Integration & Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS 2012, Cannes, France. 24 - 26 Apr 2012. pp. 136-139 .

Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, Michael John (2012) Screen printed capacitive free-standing cantilever beams used as a motion detector for wearable sensors. Eurosensors XXVI 2012: The 26th European Conference on Solid-State Transducers, Krakow, Poland. 08 - 11 Sep 2012. 5 pp .

Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2012) A novel fabrication process to realise piezoelectric cantilever structures for smart fabric sensor applications. IEEE Sensors 2012, Taipei, Taiwan. 27 - 31 Oct 2012. 4 pp .

Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2012) Screen printed capacitive free-standing cantilever beams used as a motion detector for wearable sensors. [in special issue: 26th European Conference on Solid-State Transducers, EUROSENSOR 2012] Procedia Engineering, 47, 165-169. (doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2012.09.110).

Wei, Yang, Torah, R., Yang, Kai, Beeby, S.P. and Tudor, John (2013) Screen printing of a capacitive cantilever-based motion sensor on fabric using a novel sacrificial layer process for smart fabric applications. Measurement Science and Technology, 24 (7), 075104-[11pp]. (doi:10.1088/0957-0233/24/7/075104).

Wei, Yang, Torah, R.N., Yang, Kai, Beeby, S.P. and Tudor, John (2013) A novel fabrication process to release a valveless micropump on a flexible substrate. The 17th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers '2013), Barcelona, Spain. 15 - 19 Jun 2013. 4 pp .

Yang, Kai, Torah, Russel, Wei, Yang, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2013) Waterproof and durable screen printed silver conductive tracks on textiles. Textile Research Journal. (doi:10.1177/0040517513490063).

Yang, Kai, Torah, Russel, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2013) Flexible and washable conductive textile achieved by screen printing for smart fabric applications. 13th AUTEX World Textile Conference 2013, Dresden, Germany. 21 - 23 May 2013. 1 pp .

Yang, Kai, Torah, Russel N., Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2013) Investigation of screen printed flexible silver to achieve washable conductors on textiles. LOPE-C 2014. 10 - 12 Jun 2013. 12 pp .

Chauraya, Alford, Whittow, Wulliam, Vardaxoglou, J. Yiannis, Li, Yi, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2013) Inkjet printed dipole antennas on textiles for wearable communications. IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, 7 (9), 760-767. (doi:10.1049/iet-map.2013.0076).

Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2013) A screen printable sacrificial fabrication process to realise a cantilever on fabric using a piezoelectric layer to detect motion for wearable applications. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 203, 241-248. (doi:10.1016/j.sna.2013.08.041).

Torah, R., Yang, Kai, Beeby, S.P. and Tudor, M.J. (2012) Screen-printed multilayer meander heater on polyester cotton. 88th Textile Institute World Conference, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. 14 - 16 May 2012.

Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Wei, Yang, Li, Yi, de Vos, Marc, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2013) Screen and inkjet printed electronics on fabrics – the next generation of E-textiles. Plastic Electronics Conference 2013, Dresden, Germany. 07 - 09 Oct 2013.

Torah, R., Yang, Kai, Wei, Yang, Beeby, S.P. and Tudor, M.J. (2013) MICROFLEX project: microfabrication production technology for MEMS on new emerging smart textiles/flexibles. Micro Nano MEMS Exhibition, Birmingham, United Kingdom. 24 - 25 Sep 2013.

Paul, Gordon, Yang, Kai and Beeby, Steve et al. (2013) A smart textile based facial EMG and EOG computer interface. IEEE Sensors Journal, 14 (2), 1-8. (doi:10.1109/JSEN.2013.2283424).

Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2014) A novel fabrication process to realize a valveless micropump on a flexible substrate. Smart Materials and Structures, 23 (2), 25034. (doi:10.1088/0964-1726/23/2/025034).

Yang, Kai, Freeman, C T, Torah, R.N., Beeby, S P and Tudor, M. J. (2013) Flexible Screen Printed Fabric Electrode Array for Wearable Functional Electrical Stimulation for Medical Application. International Conference on Flexible and Stretchable Electronics, Eindhoven, Netherlands. 12 - 13 Nov 2013.

Yang, K., Freeman, C.T., Torah, R.N., Beeby, S.P. and Tudor, J. (2014) Screen printed fabric electrode array for wearable functional electrical stimulation. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 213, 108-115. (doi:10.1016/j.sna.2014.03.025).

Almusallam, Ahmed, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Tudor, John and Beeby, Steve (2012) Flexible low temperature piezoelectric films for harvesting from textiles. PowerMEMS 2012: the 12th International Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications, Atlanta, United States. 02 - 05 Dec 2012.

Almusallam, Ahmed, Yang, Kai, Cao, Zhuo, Zhu, Dibin, Tudor, M. J. and Beeby, S.P. (2014) Improving the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of screen-printed low temperature PZT/polymer composite using cold isostatic pressing. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 557, 12083. (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/557/1/012083).

Almusallam, Ahmed, Yang, Kai, Zhu, Dibin, Torah, Russel, Tudor, M.J. and Beeby, S.P. (2014) Development of a low temperature PZT/polymer paste for screen printed flexible electronics applications. IEEE Sensors 2014, , Valencia, Spain. 02 - 05 Nov 2014. 4 pp .

Jamel, Nursabirah, Zhu, Dibin, Almusallam, Ahmed, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, S.P. and Tudor, M.J. (2014) Screen printed free-standing resonator with piezoelectric excitation and detection on flexible substrate. Eurosesensors 2014, Brescia, Italy. 4 pp .

Yang, Kai, Freeman, C. T., Torah, R, Beeby, S. P. and Tudor, M. J. (2015) Fabrication and Evaluation of Screen Printed Fabric Electrode Arrays. 5th Annual Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society (IFESS) (UK and Ireland Chapter), Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Almusallam, Ahmed, Yang, Kai, Torah, Russel, Komolafe, Abiodun, Tudor, Michael and Beeby, Stephen (2016) Clamping Effect on the Piezoelectric Responses of Screen-printed Low Temperature PZT/Polymer Films on Flexible Substrates. University of Southampton doi:10.5258/SOTON/377082 [Dataset]

Torah, Russel, Wei, Yang, Li, Yi, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2015) Printed textile-based electronic devices. In, Tao, Xiaoming (ed.) Handbook of Smart Textiles. Singapore, SG. Springer-Verlag Singapur, pp. 653-687.

Freeman, C. T., Yang, K., Tudor, J. and Kutlu, M. (2016) Feedback Control of Electrical Stimulation Electrode Arrays. Medical Engineering & Physics, 38 (11), 1185-1194. (doi:10.1016/j.medengphy.2016.07.002).

Almusallam, A., Yang, K., Zhu, Dibin, Torah, R.N., Komolafe, A., Tudor, J. and Beeby, S.P. (2015) Clamping effect on the piezoelectric responses of screen-printed low temperature PZT/Polymer films on flexible substrates. Smart Materials and Structures, 24 (11), 1-8, [115030]. (doi:10.1088/0964-1726/24/11/115030).

Ahmed, Zeeshan, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Beeby, Stephen and Tudor, Michael (2016) Data from Investigation and Improvement of the Dispenser Printing of Electrical Interconnections for Smart Fabric Applications. University of Southampton doi:10.5258/SOTON/390074 [Dataset]

Freeman, Christopher, Tudor, Michael, Torah, Russel, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Beeby, Stephen and Yang, Kai (2016) Printed e-textiles for wearable stroke rehabilitation. Printed Electronics Europe, Berlin, Germany. 26 - 27 Apr 2016. 1 pp .

Freeman, Christopher, Yang, Kai, Tudor, Michael and Kutlu, Mustafa, Cagri (2016) Dataset for Feedback Control of Electrical Stimulation Electrode Arrays. University of Southampton doi:10.5258/SOTON/396293 [Dataset]

Almusallam, Ahmed, Luo, Jerry, Komolafe, Abiodun, Yang, Kai, Robinson, Andrew, Torah, Russel and Beeby, Stephen (2017) Flexible piezoelectric nano-composite films for kinetic energy harvesting from textiles. Nano Energy, 33, 146-156. (doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.01.037).

Almusallam, Ahmed, Luo, Zhenhua, Komolafe, Abiodun, Yang, Kai, Robinson, Andrew, Torah, Russel and Beeby, Stephen (2017) Datafile - Flexible piezoelectric nano-composite films for kinetic energy harvesting from textiles. University of Southampton doi:10.5258/SOTON/403388 [Dataset]

Ahmed, Z., Torah, R., Yang, K., Beeby, S. and Tudor, J. (2016) Investigation and improvement of the dispenser printing of electrical interconnections for smart fabric applications. Smart Materials and Structures, 25 (10), 1-15, [105021]. (doi:10.1088/0964-1726/25/10/105021).

Yang, Kai, Meadmore, Katie, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Grabham, Neil, Spraggs, Matthew, Freeman, Christopher, Beeby, Stephen, Torah, Russel and Tudor, John (2016) Low-cost personalised instrumented clothing with integrated FES electrodes for upper limb rehabilitation. Researcher Links Workshop on Healthcare Technologies for Aging Populations, Chengdu, China. 06 - 08 Dec 2016.

Meadmore, Katie, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Grabham, Neil, Spraggs, Matthew, Freeman, Christopher, Beeby, Stephen, Tudor, John and Yang, Kai (2017) Understanding the relationship between engagement in upper limb activity and expectation of motor recovery. RehabWeek 2017: Translation and Clinical Delivery: Rehab Week London 2017, , London, United Kingdom. 17 - 21 Jul 2017.

Yang, Kai, Meadmore, Katie, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Grabham, Neil, Spraggs, Matthew, Freeman, Christopher, Beeby, Stephen, Torah, Russel and Tudor, John (2017) Fabric based wearable technology for stroke rehabilitation. International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society, , London, United Kingdom. 17 - 21 Jul 2017.

Komolafe, Abiodun, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Tudor, Michael and Beeby, Stephen (2015) Durability of screen printed electrical interconnections on woven textiles. In 2015 IEEE 65th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC). IEEE.. (doi:10.1109/ECTC.2015.7159738).

Meadmore, Katie, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Freeman, Christopher, Grabham, Neil, Beeby, Stephen, Tudor, Michael and Yang, Kai (2017) Restoring arm movement post stroke using electrical stimulation technology in clothing. STEM for Britain: Exhibition of Posters by early-career research scientists, engineers and mathematicians, Westminster, London, United Kingdom. 13 Mar 2017. (In Press)

Meadmore, Katie, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Lundrigan, Kelly, Spraggs, Matthew, Freeman, Christopher, Grabham, Neil, Beeby, Stephen, Tudor, John and Yang, Kai (2018) Exploring stroke patients' expectations for upper limb motor recovery and the barriers to achieving those expectations. 10th World Congress for Neurorehabilitation, Renaissance, Mumbai Convention Centre Hotal, Mumbai, India. 07 - 10 Feb 2018.

Meadmore, Katie, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Spraggs, Matthew, Freeman, Christopher, Grabham, Neil, Beeby, Stephen, Tudor, John (Michael) and Yang, Kai (2017) Engagement in upper limb activity and expectation of motor recovery. Sensing our World - Southampton Neuroscience Group Conference, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom. 13 Sep 2017.

Yang, Kai, Meadmore, Katie, Freeman, Christopher, Grabham, Neil, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Glanc-Gostkiewicz, Monika, Beeby, Stephen and Tudor, Michael (2018) Wearable electronic sleeve for muscle stimulation. In Annual Conference of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society 2018. (In Press)

Yang, Kai, Meadmore, Katie, Freeman, Chris, Grabham, Neil, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Wei, Yang, Torah, Russel, Glanc-Gostkiewicz, Monika, Beeby, Steve and Tudor, John (2018) Development of user-friendly wearable electronic textiles for healthcare applications. Sensors, 18 (8), [2410]. (doi:10.3390/s18082410).

Jamel, Nursabirah, Torah, Russel, Yang, Kai, Tudor, John and Beeby, Steve P. (2018) An all screen-printed free-standing piezoelectric diaphragm for application on textile. In Symposium on Design, Test, Integration and Packaging of MEMS/MOEMS, DTIP 2018. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. pp. 1-4 . (doi:10.1109/DTIP.2018.8394208).

Freeman, Christopher, Spraggs, Matthew W., Hughes, Ann-Marie, Yang, Kai, Tudor, Michael and Grabham, Neil (2018) Multiple model adaptive ILC for human movement assistance. IFAC European Control Conference 2018, , Limassol, Cyprus. 12 - 15 Jun 2018. pp. 1-6 .

Sa-E, Sakariya, Freeman, Christopher and Yang, Kai (2018) Model-based control of FES embedding simultaneous volitional EMG measurement. In 2018 UKACC 12th International Conference on Control, CONTROL 2018. IEEE. pp. 480-485 . (doi:10.1109/CONTROL.2018.8516718).

Beeby, Stephen, Torah, Russel, Tudor, John, Li, Menglong, Komolafe, Abiodun and Yang, Kai (2018) Functional electronic textiles: circuit integration and energy harvesting power supplies. In 2018 International Flexible Electronics Technology Conference (IFETC). IEEE. 3 pp . (doi:10.1109/IFETC.2018.8583839).

Yang, Wei, Yang, Kai, Browne, Martin, Bostan, Luciana and Worsley, Peter (2019) Wearable electrical stimulation to improve lymphatic function. IEEE Sensor Letters, 3 (2). (doi:10.1109/LSENS.2019.2893478).

Liu, Meijing, Arumugam, Sasikumar, Li, Yi, Yong, Sheng, White, Neil, Yang, Kai and Beeby, Steve (2019) Printable piezoresistive carbon formulation for stretch and flex sensors in e-textile applications. In 2019 IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. (doi:10.1109/FLEPS.2019.8792236).

Yang, Kai, Isaia, Beckie, Brown, Laura J.E. and Beeby, Steve (2019) E-textiles for healthy ageing. Sensors, 19 (20), [4463]. (doi:10.3390/s19204463).

Liu, Meijing, Ward, Tyler, Young, Dan, Matos, Helga, Wei, Yang, Adams, Joanna and Yang, Kai (2020) Electronic textiles based wearable electrotherapy for pain relief. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 303, [111701]. (doi:10.1016/j.sna.2019.111701).

Sa-E, Sakariya, Freeman, Christopher and Yang, Kai (2019) Iterative learning control of FES with embedded simultaneous volitional EMG. In IEEE 58th Conference on Decision and Control. IEEE. 6 pp .

Sa-E, Sakariya, Freeman, Christopher T. and Yang, Kai (2020) Iterative learning control of functional electrical stimulation in the presence of voluntary user effort. Control Engineering Practice, 96, 1-11, [104303]. (doi:10.1016/j.conengprac.2020.104303).

Torah, Russel, Komolafe, Abiodun, Yang, Kai, Tudor, Michael, Paul, Gordon and Beeby, Stephen (2019) Printed electrode structures for bio-potential monitoring in wearable e-textile garments. 13th Vienna International Workshop on Functional Electrical Stimulation<br/>, , Vienna, Austria. 23 - 25 Sep 2019.

Liu, Meijing, Beeby, Stephen and Yang, Kai (2019) Electrode for wearable electrotherapy. Proceedings, 32 (1), [5]. (doi:10.3390/proceedings2019032005).

Ward, Tyler, Grabham, Neil, Freeman, Christopher, Wei, Yang, Hughes, Ann-Marie, Power, Conor, Tudor, Michael and Yang, Kai (2020) Multichannel biphasic muscle stimulation system for post stroke rehabilitation. Electronics, 9 (7), 1-13, [1156]. (doi:10.3390/electronics9071156).

Li, Menglong, Torah, Russel, Nunes Matos, Helga, Wei, Yang, Beeby, Stephen, Tudor, Michael and Yang, Kai (2020) Integration and testing of a three-axis accelerometer in a woven e-textile sleeve for wearable movement monitoring. Sensors, 20 (18), 1-15, [5033]. (doi:10.3390/s20185033).

Liu, Meijing, Glanc-Gostkiewicz, Monika, Beeby, Stephen and Yang, Kai (2021) Fully printed wearable electrode textile for electrotherapy application. In MDPI proceedings. vol. 68, 5 pp . (doi:10.3390/proceedings2021068012).

Komolafe, Abiodun, Zaghari, Bahareh, Torah, Russel, Weddell, Alexander, Khanbareh, Hamideh, Michail Tsikriteas, Zois, Vousden, Mark, Wagih, Mahmoud, Tronco Jurado, Ulises, Shi, Junjie, Li, Yi, Yang, Kai, Savelli, Guillaume, White, Neil and Beeby, Stephen (2021) E-textile technology review: from materials to applications. IEEE Access, 9, 97152-97179, [9471836]. (doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3094303).

Yong, Sheng, Liu, Meijing, Komolafe, Abiodun, Tudor, Michael and Yang, Kai (2021) Development of a screen printable carbon paste to achieve washable conductive textiles. 14 pp . (doi:10.3390/textiles1030022).

Wagih, Mahmoud, Yong, Sheng, Yang, Kai, Weddell, Alexander and Beeby, Steve (2021) Printed non-metallic textile-based carbon antenna for low-cost green wearable applications. In European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, 2022 (EuCAP). IEEE.. (In Press)

Contact

Email: ky2e09@soton.ac.uk

Share this profile FacebookTwitterWeibo