Electronic Textiles

Research and Practice of Colloids in Electronic Textiles

Electronic textiles, which combine electronic devices with textiles, can improve human health and quality of life. Regarding the preparation of electronic textiles, there is a need to develop methods to integrate electronic functional materials while maintaining the void structure and wear resistance of textiles. Colloidal particles display different properties than their bulk counterparts due to their size. Colloidal particles can be widely used in the manufacture of electronic textiles in the form of conductive inks, conductive polymer composites, and catalysts. For example, using colloidal catalysts combined with electroless nickel immersion gold plating, a gold metal film can be deposited on the surface of the fabric to obtain electronic textiles with complete void structure and high conductivity. In addition, the direct preparation of colloidal materials into electronic inks for inkjet printing on textiles can also successfully prepare electronic textiles.

Fig.1 Schematic representation of the textile-centric approach to wearable e-textiles.^[1]

Fig.2 Schematic diagram of electroless nickel immersion gold plating process on textiles.^[1]

Alfa Chemistry is actively creating new ideas for the research of wearable electronic textiles. We can design electronic textile devices from the structural characteristics of textiles and the properties of conductive materials, and strive to develop new process technologies to turn challenges into new opportunities.

What Can We Do?

• Alfa Chemistry can provide colloidal products for electronic inks, catalysts and conductive composites for electronic textiles.
• Alfa Chemistry can design the preparation scheme of electronic textiles according to the application requirements of customers, and provide testing services for fabric structural characteristics and electrochemical performance.
• Alfa Chemistry provides fabric surface research and modification services.

References

1. Hughes-Riley, et al. A Historical Review of the Development of Electronic Textiles. Fibers, 2018.
2. Hasan, Shahariar, et al. Inkjet Printing of Reactive Silver Ink on Textiles. ACS applied materials & interfaces. 2019.

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