title: Aqueous and air-compatible fabrication of high-performance conductive textiles.
abstract: This paper describes a fully aqueous- and air-compatible chemical approach to preparing high-performance conductive textiles. In this method, the surfaces of textile materials are first modified with an aqueous solution of double-bond-containing silane molecules to form a surface-anchoring layer for subsequent in situ free-radical polymerization of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride (METAC) in the air. Thin layers of poly-METAC (PMETAC) are therefore covalently grafted on top of the silane-modified textile surface. Cu- or Ni-coated textiles are finally fabricated by electroless deposition (ELD) onto the PMETAC-modified textiles. Parameters including polymerization time, temperature, and ELD conditions are studied to optimize the whole fabrication process. The as-made conductive textiles exhibit sheet resistance as low as 0.2 Ω sq(-1) , which makes them highly suitable for use as conductive wires and interconnects in flexible and wearable electronic devices. More importantly, the chemical method is fully compatible with the conventional "pad-dry-cure" fabrication process in the textile manufacturing industry, thus indicating that it is very promising for high-throughput and roll-to-roll fabrication of high-performance metal-coated conductive textiles in the future.
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology Centre, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR (China), Fax: (+852) 27731432; Advanced Research Centre for Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen (China).
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Casey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Xuechang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ruisheng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xuqing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
keywords: conducting materials; electroless deposition; polymerization; radicals; wearable electronics