TPU: Electrically conductive textile for smart clothing

2023: Building Technology

Scientists at Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have developed a new material for smart clothing based on nylon fabric and reduced graphene oxide. Hybrid textiles retain their properties when washed and have electrical conductivity, which, according to the creators, allows it to be used to create textile sensor platforms. This was reported in the press service of the university at the end of July 2023.

It is noted that graphene particles are embedded in nylon fibers, and not just form a coating. Thanks to this, the resulting fabric is resistant to ultrasound, stretching and washing with detergents, which allows it to be used in everyday clothes.

Electroconductive textiles for smart clothing created in Tomsk

According to Evgenia Sheremet, professor at the Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies, after laser treatment, the material becomes electrically conductive, which allows it to be used as an active sensor material. It is especially important that our freeform composites can be used ready-made without the insulation normally required for laser-made materials.

The TPU also said that the created textiles can also be made antibacterial. This property was achieved thanks to the additional use of silver nanoparticles. Scientists applied silver nitrate to the hybrid textile, which was also irradiated with a laser. As a result, silver particles formed on the surface of the tissue, which are known for the antibacterial effect.

Deposited silver particles have unique optical properties. This makes our hybrid textiles promising for optical sensors. Being plasmon particles, they allow reading signals "describing" surface chemistry using optical spectroscopy methods. We conducted a series of successful experiments to detect a model dye substance and glucose using silver, "said Anna Lipovka, assistant at the Research School of Chemical and Biomedical Technologies.[1]

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