Studies of Stability in Electrical Property and Sensitivity of Polypyrrole Conductive Fabrics Used for Intelligent Flexible Sensors

Electrically conducting fabrics used as flexible sensors can be produced by vacuumed vapor deposition.The research of what impacts the wide and reliable application of the flexible sensors shows that the stability of flexible sensors is one of the critical issues.The electrical performance of weft knitted fabrics in course and wale direction does not show significant differences under different ambient conditions,which include time,temperature,and relative humidity.Tests of stimuli responding sensitivity of conductive fabrics indicate that the sensitivity keeps at a constant level and the average sensitivity is stable over 38 days.

Highly flexible conductive fabrics with hierarchically nanostructured amorphous nickel tungsten tetraoxide for enhanced electrochemical energy storage

Amorphous nickel tungsten tetraoxide （NiWO4） nanostructures （NSs） were successfully synthesized on a flexible conductive fabric （CF） using a facile one- step electrochemical deposition （ED） method. With an applied external cathodic voltage （-1.8 V for 15 min）, the amorphous NiWO4 NSs with burl-like morphologies adhered well on the seed-coated CF substrate. The burMike amorphous NiWO4 NSs on CF （NiWO4 NSs/CF） are employed as a flexible and binder-free electrode for pseudocapacitors, which exhibit remarkable electrochemical properties with high specific capacitance （1,190.2 F/g at 2 A/g）, excellent cyclic stability （92% at 10 A/g）, and good rate capability （765.7 F/g at 20 A/g） in 1 M KOH electrolyte solution. The superior electrochemical properties can be ascribed to the hierarchical structure and large specific surface area of the burl-like amorphous NiWO4 NSs/CF. This cost-effective facile method for the synthesis of metal tungsten tetraoxide nanomaterials on a flexible CF could be promising for advanced electronic and energy storage device applications.

Inventory of the Thermo-Physiological Behavior of Fabrics—A Review

A comprehensive literature review was performed to create an inventory of thermal-physiological quantities for fabrics from different fiber materials, material blends, and fabric structures. The goal was to derive over-arching concepts that cannot be seen by the individual studies alone. Equations of best fits suggest non-linear changes for fabric thickness, thermal and water-vapor resistance with changes in material blend ratio. Air permeability decreases with increasing fabric density and fabric weight wherein the degree of decrease differs among fabric materials, blend ratio, and fabric structure. Water-vapor transmission rates strongly depend on fabric thickness, material, and blend, but marginally depend on fabric structure as long as the fabric and material thickness remain the same.

Preparation and electromagnetic shielding properties of PET/rGO/SWCNT composite fabric

Graphene oxide(GO)with excellent dispersion ability can assist the dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotube(SWCNT)and promote the formation of uniform and stable GO/SWCNT coating liquid.The highly conductive polyethylene terephthalate/reduced graphene oxide/SWCNT(PET/rGO/SWCNT)electromagnetic shielding composite fabric was successfully prepared by anchoring rGO/SWCNT on PET fabric via dip-coating piror to low-temperature thermal reduction.The results showed that the carboxyl groups and hydroxyl groups formed of hydrophilic-treated PET were conducive to the formation of hydrogen bonds with that of GO,which enhanced the interaction between PET fabric and GO/SWCNT coating;the loading of GO/SWCNT increased with the number of dip-coating,the unit area loading of rGO/SWCNT in the final composite fabric was 2.7 mg/cm^(2) after 10 dip-coating cycles and thermal reduction;the PET/rGO/SWCNT composite fabric had a continuous and dense conductive network,with a conductivity of up to 41.6 S/m and the average electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness in X-band was 22 dB;the flexible PET/rGO/SWCNT composite fabric was not only easy to process,but also exhibited excellent conductivity and shielding efficiency,showing great potential in the application of electromagnetic shielding fabrics.

Preparation and Characterization of PANI/PET Composite Conductive Fabric

Polyaniline /Polyester( PANI /PET) composite conductive fabric is prepared through in-situ polymerization process using aniline as monomer and PET fabric as matrix,which is treated with alkali deweighting and low temperature plasma. The property of PANI /PET composite conductive fabric is studied and characterized,including scanning electron microscope( SEM), infrared spectroscopy, conductivity, wash fastness and mechanical properties. The results show that the optimal polymerization conditions: the molar ratio of ammonium persulfate and aniline is1∶ 1,the concentration of sulfuric acid is 1 mol /L and reaction time is 90 min. Under optimum conditions,the surface resistivity of PANI /PET composite conductive fabric is about 170 Ω. After washed 5 times, the surface resistivity of PANI /PET composite conductive fabric is stable at 1 450 Ω. The breaking strength and breaking elongation of PANI /PET composite conductive fabric decrease compared with PET fabric.

A Novel Method of Fabricating Flexible Transparent Conductive Large Area Graphene Film

We fabricate flexible conductive and transparent graphene films on position-emission-tomography substrates and prepare large area graphene films by graphite oxide sheets with the new technical process. The multi-layer graphene oxide sheets can be chemically reduced by HNO3 and HI to form a highly conductive graphene film on a substrate at lower temperature. The reduced graphene oxide sheets show a high conductivity sheet with resistance of 476Ω/sq and transmittance of 76% at 550nm （6 layers）. The technique used to produce the transparent conductive graphene thin film is facile, inexpensive, and can be tunable for a large area production applied for electronics or touch screens.

Fabrication of High-Haze Flexible Transparent Conductive PMMA Films Embedded with Silver Nanowires

High-haze flexible transparent conductive polymethyl methacrylate （PMMA） films embedded with silver nanowires （AgNWs） are fabricated by a low-cost and simple process. The volatilization rate of the solvent in PMMA solution affects the surface microstructures and morphologies, which results in different haze factors of the composite films. The areal mass density of AgNW shows a significant influence on the optical and electrical properties of composite films. The AgNW/PMMA transparent conductive films with the sheet resistance of 5.5Ω sq ^-1 exhibit an excellent performance with a high haze factor of 81.0% at 550？nm.

Design and Modeling of a Flexible Conductive Fabric Antenna Integrated in an OLED Light Source for WIMAX Wireless Communication Systems

This work presents a new bendable antenna for worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) wireless communication systems. These antennas, transparent and flexible, will be easily integrated into various mdia and in particular OLED lighting which could be part of the public lighting network of tomorrow as well as on all display media. The integration of these antennas as close as possible to the end-user is a possible solution to reduce the energy consumption which goes hand in hand with the increase in the data rate. This kind of new antenna, designed to be integrated in organic light-emitting diode (OLED), was modeled from a transparent VeilShieldTM conductive fabric and was placed on a 100% polyester substrate with a thickness of 1.5 mm and a loss tangent of 0.02. We have tested and evaluated the characteristic parameters of our antenna, namely the reflection coefficient, the radiation pattern and the gain, to find out the performance of our proposed design. The performance of the transparent conductive fabric integrated in the 100% polyester substrate is tested for the application of flexible antenna operating at 3.5 GHz with a gain value of 5.38 dB. We have integrated this proposed new antenna with the OLED light source containing four layers of different materials and electrical properties: aluminum cathode layer, polymer layer, indium tin oxide (ITO) anode layer and glass substrate layer. After integration, the resonant frequency shifted to 3.52 GHz with a gain value of 4.61 dB. In addition, we also tested the concave bending on the reflection coefficient of the proposed flexible antenna taking into account the different bending angles. This work demonstrates the possibility of integrating these unconventional materials used for the proposed antenna within the OLED despite weak effects on the resonant frequency and the gain of the proposed antenna after integration.

Numerical Estimation of the Thermal Response of Thermal Protective Clothing-Air Gap-Human Skin Micro-system

Thermal protective clothing has been recognized as the primary shielding against emergency fire hazard and inflammable gas leakage. Therefore,the thermal response of human covered with thermal protective clothing under high temperature is the key work to investigate the thermal insulation of thermal protective clothing. A coupling model composed of thermal protective clothing,air gap and human skin is established and the temperature of the micro-system is numerically solved via the finite element method( FEM).Especially,the heat transfer of air gap located between clothing and human skin considering conduction and radiation is established while the human skin layers involve the effect of blood perfusion. Then the effect of thermophysical properties( thermal conductivity and volumetric capacity) of fabric and thickness of fabric and air on the thermal response of the micro-system is elucidated and compared.The results indicate that the volumetric heat capacity of fabric is the key parameter to affect the thermal shielding performance of thermal protective clothing,and the thicker fabric thickness and air gap thickness can improve the thermal protective properties of the micro-system.

Color-Changing Fabric System with Temperature Control

Color-changing fabric system with temperature control is designed through textile design and electronic technology.The system inserts a conductive fabric inside a fabric coated with thermochromic powder.A temperature control system is constructed to adjust the current to raise the temperature of conductive fabric to the active point of thermochromic powder and keep the temperature in stable.Therefore,the fabric could sense the temperature and change colors.In order to achieve wearability,mobile power supply is selected and flexible sensor is adopted.Kalman filter is engaged in the proportion integration differentiation(PID)control algorithm to reduce the interference of measurement noise.The experiment result shows that the proposed color-changing fabric system could reach the target temperature quickly and meet the design demands for color-changing.

Layer-by-layer assembly of chitosan and carbon nanotube on cotton fabric for strain and temperature sensing

Layer-by-layer(LBL)assembly shows great potential in fabrication of flexible conductive cotton fabrics(FCCF)with carbon nanotubes(CNT)as conductive components but is limited because complicated chemical modification of CNT is usually required.Herein,we reported a facile and eco-friendly LBL approach to fabricating FCCF by dipping in chitosan(CS)aqueous solution and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)(PSS)wrapped CNT aqueous dispersion alternately.The FCCF with electrical conductivity higher than 30 S/m was achieved when 4 layers of CNT were coated on the cotton fabric(CF).The obtained FCCF possessed outstanding mechanical stability with electrical resistivity almost unchanged after exposure to 500 times mechanical abrasion and 500 circles of tape peeling.The FCCF showed excellent strain sensing performance with high sensitivity(with a gauge factor up to 35.1)and a fast response time(70 ms).It can be used as a strain sensor to accurately detect various human deformations such as finger bending and joint movements.The FCCF could be used as a temperature sensor in that it exhibited stable and reproducible negative temperature sensing behavior in the temperature range of 30-100℃.

Scalable Process to Develop Durable Conductive Cotton Fabric

Developing a scalable process is critical to manufacture conductive fabric for commercial applications.This paper describes a scalable coating process that is compatible with existing industrial finishing processes of fabrics.In this process,the fabric is continuously dipped in water-based metal salt and the reducing agent solution to impart conductive particles on the fiber surface.After 10 consecutive cycles of dip coating,the fabric shows 6Ω/in.of resistance.The process is tuned to minimize process cost and material cost,and maximize the durability of the fabric.This paper also introduces an easy protective coating technique of the conductive fabric that improves the durability of the conductive fabric without sacrificing the comfort properties of textile fabrics such as breathability and flexibility.The encapsulated conductive fabric shows good air-permeability and it is 6.96 cm^(3)/cm^(2)/s.Moreover,the conductivity of the encapsulated fabric is quite stable after four accelerated washing cycles.Additionally,the fabric remains conductive on the surfaces and is suitable for using as a conductive track and connectors.

High-performance textile piezoelectric pressure sensor with novel structural hierarchy based on ZnO nanorods array for wearable application

With the increasing demand for smart wearable clothing, the textile piezoelectric pressure sensor (T-PEPS) that can harvest mechanical energy directly has attracted significant attention. However, the current challenge of T-PEPS lies in remaining the outstanding output performance without compromising its wearing comfort. Here, a novel structural hierarchy T-PEPS based on the single-crystalline ZnO nanorods are designed. The T-PEPS is constructed with three layers mode consisting of a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane, the top and bottom layers of conductive rGO polyester (PET) fabrics with self-orientation ZnO nanorods. As a result, the as-fabricated T-PEPS shows low detection limit up to 8.71 Pa, high output voltage to 11.47 V and superior mechanical stability. The sensitivity of the sensor is 0.62 V·kPa−1 in the pressure range of 0–2.25 kPa. Meanwhile, the T-PEPS is employed to detect human movements such as bending/relaxation motion of the wrist, bending/stretching motion of each finger. It is demonstrated that the T-PEPS can be up-scaled to promote the application of wearable sensor platforms and self-powered devices.

Wearable sensors and supercapacitors using electroplated-Ni/ZnO antibacterial fabric

Herein,nickel nanocones and zinc oxide nanosheets were electroplated onto a fabric to produce multifunctional(wearable,stretchable,washable,hydrophobic,and antibacterial)materials with sensing,heating,and supercapacitive properties.All these functionalities are integrated into a one-layered fabric that can be used as a portable intelligent electronic textile for potential application in healthcare monitoring,smart sportswear,and energy storage.Electroplated nickel enhances the electrical conductivity and thus increases the electron charge transfer for supercapacitor applications.The integration of ZnO with the Ni-plated fabric provides pseudocapacitance via redox reactions with the electrolyte.The resistance of the Ni/ZnO fabric changes in response to external stimuli such as temperature and strain.When voltage is applied,the fabric generates heat through Joule heating,demonstrating its potential application as winter sportswear.The superior mechanical durability of the fabric was confirmed through bending and stretching tests.The hydrophobic surface prevents viruses contained in liquid droplets from infiltrating the fabric.In addition,bacterial growth is inhibited because of the antibacterial properties of the Ni/ZnO fabric and because of Joule heating.The one-layered fabric integrated with such multiple functionalities is expected to be applicable in the development of next-generation portable and wearable electronic textiles in various industries.