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Superhydrophobic E-textile with an Ag-EGaIn Conductive Layer for Motion Detection and Electromagnetic Interference
Xinlong Sun1,2, Jun-Heng Fu1,3, Chao Teng4
1Beijing Key Lab of Cryo-biomedical Engineering and Key Lab of Cryogenics, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|July 15, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed a novel superhydrophobic electronic textile by plating silver onto a liquid metal-coated fabric. This advanced e-textile offers superior conductivity and water repellency for applications in health monitoring and electromagnetic interference shielding.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Textile Engineering
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Electronic textiles (e-textiles) show potential in various applications but struggle with simultaneous conductivity and water repellency.
- Superhydrophobic surfaces are crucial for e-textile durability against humidity and chemical decay.
- Existing e-textiles face challenges in achieving both high conductivity and robust water repellency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a facile and efficient method for creating a hierarchical elastic e-textile with enhanced properties.
- To integrate superior conductivity and robust superhydrophobicity into a single e-textile platform.
- To explore the potential applications of the fabricated e-textile in electromagnetic interference shielding and wearable sensing.
Main Methods:
- Electroless silver plating on gallium-indium (GaIn) alloy liquid metal-coated textiles.
- Surface modification using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and FAS-17 deposition to achieve superhydrophobicity.
- Characterization of conductivity, contact angle, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency.
Main Results:
- The fabricated e-textile achieved a high conductivity of 2145 ± 122 S/cm and a superhydrophobic contact angle of 161.5 ± 2.1°.
- Demonstrated excellent electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency, averaging 87.56 dB in the 8.2-12.4 GHz frequency range.
- The textile exhibited high elasticity and low modulus, suitable for wearable strain sensing applications.
Conclusions:
- A novel route for fabricating high-performance hydrophobic e-textiles was successfully demonstrated.
- The developed e-textile integrates superior conductivity, robust superhydrophobicity, and mechanical flexibility.
- This work offers a promising encapsulation strategy for future advancements in conductive textiles for diverse applications.
