Highly machine-washable e-textiles with high strain sensitivity and high thermal conduction

Abstract

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) have attracted great attention due to their promising application in areas like flexible electronics, wearable devices, healthcare and sports. They should be machine-washable and have high thermal conduction for heat management. But there are few reports on e-textiles with high thermal conductivity. Here, we report highly machine-washable e-textiles with high strain sensitivity and high thermal conduction. The e-textiles are prepared by anchoring carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into non-woven fabric (NWF) by nanosoldering and then depositing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) through chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO). The rGO/CNTs/NWF textiles are highly sensitive to the strain and have a gauge factor of 32.65 at a tensile strain of 1.0%. They can detect a subtle strain as low as 0.01%. In addition, the rGO and CNTs attached by nanosoldering have good adhesion to NWFs. The e-textiles are highly machine washable and can be operated in water for a long time. Moreover, they can have a thermal conductivity of 2.90 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹, much higher than normal textiles. Their applications as wearable sensors for monitoring body motion and blood pulse are also demonstrated.