Functionalized knitted fabric, as a kind of flexible, wearable, and waterproof material capable of conductivity, sensitivity and outstanding hydrophobicity, is valuable for multi-field applications. Herein, the reduced graphene oxide (RGO)-coated knitted fabric (polyester/spandex blended) is prepared, which involves the use of graphite oxide (GO) by modified Hummers method and in-situ chemical reduction with hydrazine hydrate. The treated fabric exhibits a high electrical conductivity (202.09 S/cm) and an outstanding hydrophobicity (140°). The outstanding hydrophobicity is associated with the morphology of the fabric and fiber with reference to pseudo-infiltration. These properties can withstand repeated bending and washing without serious deterioration, maintaining good electrical conductivity (35.70 S/cm) and contact angle (119.39°) after eight standard washing cycles. The material, which has RGO architecture and continuous loop mesh structure, can find wide use in smart garment applications.
The integration of high conductive networks and textiles has become a favorable technical route to fulfill the objectives of wearable electronics. Herein, high stretchable and recoverable PET fabric coated with a layer of silver nanowire network by a simple and scalable polyol-method is provided. The electrothermal performance, resistance temperature-sensitivity, electromagnetic shielding performance, strain sensing, and washability of silver nanowire (AgNWs)/PET fabrics with different coating times were performed. The conductivity of the fabric coated AgNWs of 2.8 mg/cm2 is as high as 175 S/m, the EMI shielding effectiveness is 37 dB, and it gives a highly sensitive strain response to human movement (gauge factor of −6.16 under 10% strain) and an underwater oil repellent angle of 125°. The heating temperature can reach above 100°C within 27 s under an applied current of 0.10 A. In addition, an excellent linearity of the resistance temperature-sensitive behavior for AgNWs/PET fabrics is obtained, and fabric Ag-5 gives a negative temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of −0.05%/°C. Knitted fabric with multi-function is obtained by use of silver nanowire coating. This method provides a simple, low-cost and easy-to-scalable process for the production of electronic textiles, such as fabric heater, microwave blocker, sensor, and other technologies.
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