Multifunctional conductive polyaniline/cotton fabric with integrated EMI shielding and flame retardancy via in situ...

With the continuous advancement of technology, smart wearable products are rapidly emerging. Conductive textiles have garnered significant attention for wearable electronics and smart applications. This study presented a facile interfacial polymerization strategy to fabricate polyaniline/cotton fabric (PANI/cotton fabric) with tunable conductivity and multifunctionality. Through optimized polymerization conditions, PANI was uniformly deposited in situ on cotton fibers, followed by post-treatment to further enhance doping efficiency, thereby achieving improved interfacial adhesion and electrical properties. The optimized PANI/cotton fabric was found to have a conductivity of 60.29 S/m, an electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE) of 11.19 dB (a shielding efficiency of 92.4%), achieved through a synergy of reflection and absorption where the latter plays the dominant role, alongside improved flame retardancy and thermal stability. This work resolved the critical material challenge of multi-functional integration in practical wearable electronic products, providing a feasible material strategy for the development of advanced safety textiles with both effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and inherent flame retardancy.