Multi-functional and water-resistant conductive silver nanoparticle-decorated cotton textiles with excellent joule heating performances and human motion monitoring

Smart textiles have got increasing attention for potential application in personal thermal management, wearable human motion monitoring, and healthcare. However, it is still a challenge to prepare a multifunctional electronic textile with water-resistant, electro-thermal response, mechanical-sensitive performance, and antibacterial activities. Here, a multifunctional conductive cotton textile is fabricated by in-situ reduction silver nanoparticles(Ag NPs) on cotton fiber under the assistance of tannic acid, followed decorating with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). These obtained multifunctional textiles (cotton/TA/Ag NPs/PDMS textile) not only maintain the innate flexibility, and permeability characteristics of cotton textiles, but also exhibit rapid thermal response, outstanding long-time steady heating performance, and antifouling property. Furthermore, the cotton/TA/Ag NPs/PDMS textiles exhibit excellent strain sensing performance for potential human motions monitoring. Impressively, cotton/TA/Ag NPs/PDMS textiles show resistance to bacterial. Thus, this multifunctional cotton textile provides a new way for the study of the next generation of lightweight, portable, and wearable electronic textile devices. [GRAPHICS]

Automated summary

A multifunctional conductive cotton textile was developed by reducing silver nanoparticles and decorating polydimethylsiloxane on cotton fibers. The textile demonstrated rapid thermal response, long-time steady heating performance, antifouling properties, and excellent strain sensing capabilities. Additionally, it also showed resistance to bacterial, providing new possibilities for lightweight, portable, and wearable electronic textile devices in the future.