Journal of Textile Science & Engineering

Application of Silk Templated Electronic Yarns in Multifunctional Textiles and their Design and Fabrication

Abstract

Hua Shen*

For e-textile applications, conductive silk fibers (CSFs) are constructed with carbon nanotubes and silk fiber. We incorporate the complementary advantages of both components into a single hybrid fiber system by employing a scalable dip-coating strategy. Silk fibers provide mechanical toughness and strength, and carbon nanotubes provide functions like water resistance, solvent resistance, and thermal and electrical conductivity in such a system. CSFs can be woven into electronic textiles using automated fabric machines due to their mechanical and functional advantages. The resulting e-textiles can withstand washing with high-intensity or automated ultrasonics. These CSF e-textiles have potential applications in wearable devices, human augmentation, healthcare monitoring, and human-machine interfaces. They can be used as wearable sensing platforms to detect and monitor surrounding physical and chemical signals like force, temperature, and solvents.

E-textiles are interesting in a lot of different areas, like real-time healthcare monitoring and wearable electronics. Techniques for designing and fabricating e-textiles to meet the various requirements remain significant obstacles. Natural silk fibers, an ancient and unparalleled textile fiber, may be considered as a solution to these problems. However, natural silks that conduct electricity have not yet been produced due to processing difficulties. In this paper, we present a method for making conductive silk fibers (CSFs) using a scalable dip coating. A custom-made carbon nanotube (CNT) paint was used to functionalize natural silk fibers. This paint selectively scratches the surface of the silk fibers without destroying the fibers' internal structure. The CSFs maintained the mechanical performance, super hydrophobicity, solvent resistance, and thermal sensitivity of the silks and CNTs. The CSFs can be consequently woven into textures, bringing about materials delicate to encompassing actual boosts, including force, strain, temperature, and solvents.