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Towards conductive textiles: coating polymeric fibres with graphene
Ana I S Neves1,2, Daniela P Rodrigues3, Adolfo De Sanctis4
1Centre for Graphene Science, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, EX4 4QF, Exeter, United Kingdom. a.neves@exeter.ac.uk.
Scientific Reports
|June 28, 2017
Summary
Researchers developed a method to coat insulating textile fibers with graphene, making them conductive for e-textiles. This innovation enables the creation of integrated electronic devices directly within fabrics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Textile Engineering
Background:
- Conductive fibers are crucial for advancing electronic textiles (e-textiles).
- Traditional textile fibers are typically insulating, limiting their use in electronic applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a scalable method for creating conductive textile fibers.
- To demonstrate the feasibility of coating common textile fibers with graphene.
- To explore the potential of these conductive fibers in e-textile applications.
Main Methods:
- Coating common insulating textile fibers with graphene.
- Characterizing the conductivity of the resulting graphene-coated fibers using sheet resistance measurements.
- Conducting extensive microscopic studies of the fiber surfaces.
- Testing the method on various textile fiber types, sizes, and shapes, and with different graphene materials.
Main Results:
- Successfully rendered common insulating textile fibers conductive by coating them with graphene.
- Achieved low sheet resistance values as low as 600 Ωsq-1, indicating retained graphene conductivity.
- Demonstrated the versatility of the coating method across different fiber materials and types of graphene.
- Confirmed the method's applicability to diverse fiber dimensions and forms.
Conclusions:
- Graphene coating provides an effective route to produce conductive textile fibers.
- The developed method is adaptable and preserves the inherent conductivity of graphene.
- These novel conductive fibers offer a promising platform for integrating electronic functionalities directly into textiles, paving the way for advanced e-textile development.
