Splash-Resistant and Light-Weight Silk-Sheathed Wires for Textile Electronics.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Textile Engineering
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Silk offers excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility but lacks electrical conductivity, limiting its use in electronics.
• Regenerated silk is often rigid and brittle, hindering its integration into advanced applications.
• Developing conductive and flexible materials is crucial for the advancement of modern textile electronics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate a conductive silk wire by integrating carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns with silk nanofibers.
• To enhance the mechanical properties, flexibility, and durability of silk-based conductive wires.
• To explore the potential of these novel wires in smart clothing and electronic textiles.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of fluffy and flexible silk nanofiber films using electrospinning.
• In-situ wrapping of silk nanofiber films around rotating carbon nanotube (CNT) yarns.
• Characterization of the electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, flexibility, durability, and density of the resulting CNT@Silk wires.

Main Results:

• Successfully created silk-sheathed CNT (CNT@Silk) wires with an insulating sheath for electrical shock protection.
• Achieved high electrical conductivity (3.1 × 10^4 S/m) and good mechanical strength (16 cN/tex).
• Demonstrated excellent flexibility, high durability, extremely low density (2.0-7.8 × 10^4 g/m3), and humidity resistance.

Conclusions:

• The developed CNT@Silk wires offer a promising lightweight and conductive material for textile electronics.
• The wires exhibit superior properties compared to traditional metal wires, including lower density and enhanced flexibility.
• Applications in smart clothes, such as electrochromism and near-field communication, were successfully demonstrated.