posted on 2021-06-22, 15:35authored byYoung-Eun Shin, Joon Young Cho, Jeonghee Yeom, Hyunhyub Ko, Joong Tark Han
Highly
stable conducting fibers have attracted significant attention
in electronic textile (e-textile) applications. Here, we fabricate
highly conducting poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposite fibers with
high thermal and chemical stability based on silver nanobelt (AgNB)/multiwalled
carbon nanotube (MWCNT) hybrid materials as conducting fillers. At
20 vol % AgNB/MWCNT, the electrical conductivity of the fiber dramatically
increased (∼533 times) from 3 up to 1600 S/cm after thermal
treatment at 300 °C for 5 min. Moreover, PVA/AgNB/MWCNT fiber
resists the harsh conditions of good solvents for PVA as well as high
temperatures over the melting point of PVA, whereas pure PVA fiber
is unstable in these environments. The significantly enhanced electrical
conductivity and chemical stability can be realized through the post-thermal
curing process, which is attributed to the coalescence between adjacent
AgNBs and additional intensive cross-linking of PVA. These remarkable
characteristics make our conducting fibers suitable for applications
in e-textiles such as water leakage detectors and wearable heaters.
In particular, heating behavior of e-textiles by Joule heating can
accelerate the desorption of physically trapped moisture from the
fiber surface, resulting in the fully reversible operation of water
leakage monitoring. This smart e-textile sensor based on highly stable
and conductive composite fibers will pave the way for diverse e-textile
applications.