Scalable fabrication of carbon materials based silicon rubber for highly stretchable e-textile sensor

Abstract

Development of stretchable wearable devices requires essential materials with high level of mechanical and electrical properties as well as scalability. Recently, silicone rubber-based elastic polymers with incorporated conductive fillers (metal particles, carbon nanomaterials, etc.) have been shown to the most promising materials for enabling both high electrical performance and stretchability, but the technology to make materials in scalable fabrication is still lacking. Here, we propose a facile method for fabricating a wearable device by directly coating essential electrical material on fabrics. The optimized material is implemented by the noncovalent association of multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), carbon black (CB), and silicon rubber (SR). The e-textile sensor has the highest gauge factor (GF) up to 34.38 when subjected to 40% strain for 5,000 cycles, without any degradation. In particular, the fabric sensor is fully operational even after being immersed in water for 10 days or stirred at room temperature for 8 hours. Our study provides a general platform for incorporating other stretchable elastic materials, enabling the future development of the smart clothing manufacturing.

A review of textile-based electrodes developed for electrostimulation

“…Carbon offers high heat resistance and electrical conductivity. 94 By incorporation of carbon as a conductive filler in silicone rubber-based elastic polymers, high stretchability can be reached, 95 thus making it suitable for the coating of textile structures.…”

A review of wearable carbon-based sensors for strain detection: fabrication methods, properties, and mechanisms

“…It was suitable for voice recognition, noncontact airflow monitoring, finger and wrist muscle movement, etc. The fabric sensor proposed by Li et al 78 provided a common platform for the integration of other stretchable elastic materials and promoted the future development of smart clothing manufacture.…”

“…The fabric sensor proposed by Li et al. 78 provided a common platform for the integration of other stretchable elastic materials and promoted the future development of smart clothing manufacture. The sensor GF was up to 34.38.…”

“…77 (b) Preparation of a graphene-coated silk fabric 76. and (c) Blade-coating processes of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/carbon black (CB)/silicone rubber (SR) composites 78.…”

In situ coupled electrical/mechanical investigations of graphene coated cationized cotton yarns with enhanced conductivity upon mechanical stretching

“…These functional materials can be described as textiles that have the capability to interact with their environment or users by incorporation of new functionalities leading to various applications such as anti-static 2 , anti-microbial 3 , flame retardant 4 , electrical conduction 5 , self-cleaning 6 , thermal regulation 7 or UV protection 8 . Electronic textiles (e-textiles) have a key role in the development of new intelligent technologies with various applications from aerospace to energy storage and wearable electronic devices and systems [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] . Numerous techniques have been used to make textile-based fabrics, fibers or yarns electrically conductive.…”