Fabrication of multifunctional smart polyester fabric via electrochemical deposition of ZnO nano-/microhierarchical structures

Advanced multifunctional surfaces are widely used due to their unique surface properties and widespread applications. Developing a multifunctional fabric with a low cost, fluorine-free, and easily controllable method is a great challenge. This paper reports a multifunctional fabric with conductive, UV blocking, superhydrophobic and photosensing properties via an electrodeposition method. ZnO nano-/microarchitectures have been electrodeposited on polyester fabric with a carbon black screen-printed conductive layer. The deposition was carried out in various operating parameters. The optimized conditions for the ZnO electrodeposition are at - 1.0 V for 30 min deposition time in 5 mM Zn(NO3)(2) in 0.1 M KNO3 at room temperature. The developed fabric showed 100% UV radiation blocking and a water contact angle (WCA) of 156 degrees after self-assembly of stearic acid on the ZnO layer. The modified fabric showed fast photoresponse as a photosensor, which indicates that this can be used as flexible wearable photosensors in practical applications.

Automated summary

This study develops a multifunctional fabric with conductive, UV blocking, superhydrophobic and photosensing properties via an electrodeposition method. The optimized conditions lead to good UV blocking effect and fast photoresponse capability.