Multifunctional and Water-Resistant MXene-Decorated Polyester Textiles with Outstanding Electromagnetic Interference Shielding and Joule Heating Performances

Although multifunctional, flexible, and wearable textiles with integrated smart electronics have attracted tremendous attention in recent years, it is still an issue to balance new functionalities with the inherent performances of the textile substrates. 2D early transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes) are considered as ideal nanosheets for fabricating multifunctional and flexible textiles on the basis of their superb intrinsic electrical conductivity, tunable surface chemistry, and layered structure. Herein, highly conductive and hydrophobic textiles with exceptional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding efficiency and excellent Joule heating performance are fabricated by depositing in situ polymerized polypyrrole (PPy) modified MXene sheets onto poly(ethylene terephthalate) textiles followed by a silicone coating. The resultant multifunctional textile exhibits high electrical conductivity of approximate to 1000 S m(-1) in conjunction with an exceptional EMI shielding efficiency of approximate to 90 dB at a thickness of 1.3 mm. The thin silicone coating renders the hydrophilic PPy/MXene-decorated textile hydrophobic, leading to an excellent water-resistant feature while retaining a satisfactory air permeability of the textile. Interestingly, the multifunctional textile also exhibits an excellent moderate voltage-driven Joule heating performance. Thus, the deposition of PPy-modified MXene followed by silicone coating creates a multifunctional textile that holds great promise for wearable intelligent garments, EMI shielding, and personal heating applications.