Thermoelectrical properties of graphene knife-coated cellulosic fabrics for defect monitoring in Joule-heated textiles

Abstract

Knife-coating can confer new properties on different textile substrates efficiently by integrating various compounds into the coating paste. Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) is one of the most used elements for the functionalization of fabrics in recent years, providing electrical and thermal conductivity to fabrics, later used to develop products such as sensors or heated garments. This paper reports thermoelectrically conductive textiles fabrication through knife-coating of cellulosic fabrics with a GNP load from 0.4 to 2 wt% within an acrylic coating paste. The fabric doped with the highest GNP content reaches a temperature increase of 100°C in few seconds. Besides, it is found out that the thermographic images obtained during the electrical voltage application provide maps of irregularities in the dispersion of conductive particles of the coating and defects produced throughout their useful life. Therefore, the application of a low voltage on the coated fabrics allows fast and effective heating by Joule’s effect, whose thermographic images, in turn, can be used as structural maps to check the quality of the GNP doped coating. The temperature values and the heating rate obtained make these fabrics suitable for heating devices, anti-ice and de-ice systems, and protective equipment, which would be of great interest for industrial applications.

Research Progress on the Preparation of Flexible and Green Cellulose-Based Electrothermal Composites for Joule Heating Applications

“…Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) were applied to a cellulose fabric using the knife coating method, and the surface temperature of the resulting GNP-coated fabric increased to 100 °C within 60 s at an applied voltage of 40 V. The distribution of the surface temperature was affected by the uniformity of the GNP dispersion. The preparation of a well-dispersed conductive coating paste was highly important . Inspired by the polar bear pelt, Ag/cellulose/CNTs films with hydrophilicity, permeability, flexibility, and mechanical stability were fabricated using various methods, including knife-coated CNTs and magnetron-sputtering silver.…”

Polyurethane-based nanocomposite film with thermal deicing capability and anti-erosion for wind turbine blades protection in extreme environments

“…5(h)). 33,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63] The heater in this work exhibits high steady state temperature under low voltage, and also effective and rapid deicing capacity under 9 V voltage. At this moment, the input power density is only 0.146 W cm −2 , fully satisfying the practical demand of low-energy anti-icing and deicing.…”

Reduced Graphene Oxide-Coated Fabrics for Joule-Heating and Antibacterial Applications

“…By applying a voltage of 10 V, a steady-state temperature of 75.4 °C was achieved within 30 s for the fabricated Joule heater . In another study, conductive fabrics were created by applying graphene onto the textile substrate using a knife-coating technique . In this method, a coating paste consisting of a thickener, binder, fixing agent, ammonia, distilled water, and graphene nanoplatelets was prepared and then knife-coated onto the fabric samples.…”

“… 16 In another study, conductive fabrics were created by applying graphene onto the textile substrate using a knife-coating technique. 17 In this method, a coating paste consisting of a thickener, binder, fixing agent, ammonia, distilled water, and graphene nanoplatelets was prepared and then knife-coated onto the fabric samples. The study reported achieving temperatures of up to 100 °C under 40 V. Jain and Chatterjee developed graphene-functionalized fabrics for thermotherapy applications.…”