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Room-Temperature Conformally Coated Cotton Fabrics for Integrated Textile Sensors.
Fatih Bayansal1,2, Habeeb Mousa1, Md Sazid Bin Sadeque3
1Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, United States.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|April 8, 2026
Summary
Cotton fabrics were coated with zinc oxide (ZnO) using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to create flexible UV photodetectors. These wearable sensors show stable and repeatable performance under various mechanical stresses, demonstrating potential for integrated textile electronics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Textile Engineering
Background:
- Developing advanced materials for wearable electronics is crucial for next-generation sensing technologies.
- Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) offers precise control over thin film growth, enabling conformal coatings on complex substrates like textiles.
- Zinc Oxide (ZnO) is a promising semiconductor material for optoelectronic applications due to its tunable properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conformally coat cotton fabrics with ZnO layers using low-temperature ALD.
- To investigate the structural, chemical, and optical properties of ALD-grown ZnO on cotton.
- To fabricate and characterize textile-integrated photodetectors based on ZnO-coated cotton.
Main Methods:
- Cotton fabrics were coated with ZnO via atomic layer deposition (ALD) at temperatures from room temperature to 120 °C.
- Structural, morphological, and chemical analyses were performed using SEM, EDX, and XPS.
- Optical properties were characterized by measuring optical band gaps and Urbach energies.
- Photodetector devices were fabricated and tested for UV photoresponse, ON/OFF ratios, stability, and mechanical flexibility.
Main Results:
- Uniform, conformal ZnO coatings with dominant wurtzite (002) orientation were achieved on cotton fibers.
- Increasing deposition temperature improved ZnO crystallinity, reduced defect density, and increased grain size.
- ZnO-coated cotton photodetectors exhibited strong UV photoresponse with high ON/OFF ratios (up to 161 at 10 V bias).
- The devices demonstrated repeatable performance, stability under continuous illumination, and robust photoresponse under bending, stretching, and compression.
Conclusions:
- Low-temperature ALD is effective for fabricating ZnO films on cotton for integrated optoelectronic sensors.
- The developed textile-integrated photodetectors show excellent performance and mechanical robustness for wearable applications.
- This work highlights the potential of ALD-grown ZnO for advanced, intrinsically functional textiles.
Keywords:
ZnO thin filmatomic layer deposition (ALD)cottonflexible UV photodetectorlow-temperature depositiontextile sensorMore Related Videos
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