Textile is a traditional industry, but there are also new tricks and new technologies in this traditional industry. As long as great efforts are made, tradition will no longer be “traditional”. In order to cater to the changes in consumer demand for clothing, professionals are innovating and integrating new technologies to meet or even exceed consumer expectations.
Graphene is currently the thinnest and strongest material in nature. It is 200 times stronger than steel. It is also very elastic and can stretch up to 20% of its own size.
As the thinnest, strongest, and most electrically and thermally conductive new nanomaterial discovered so far, graphene is called “black gold” and the “king of new materials.” Some scientists predict that graphene will Ethylene is very likely to set off a disruptive new technology and new industrial revolution sweeping the world, which will “completely change the 21st century.”
Konstantin Novoselov, winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics, academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences, chief scientist of the British National Graphene Institute, honorary professor of the University of Manchester, and professor of the National University of Singapore, published a paper titled “Graphene “Applications in Smart Textiles” speech, based on his years of research results and experience on graphene, introduced the performance characteristics, preparation methods and application examples of graphene in smart textiles.
What is graphene? Focus on the performance characteristics and preparation methods of graphene
The structure of graphene is a single-layer two-dimensional honeycomb lattice structure composed of closely packed carbon atoms (Figure 1). Although the structure is simple, it has many advantage. It is one of the thinnest materials currently, with good electrical and thermal conductivity, excellent flexibility and strength… Graphene combines all the above advantages in one.
Graphene’s related properties make it a promising application field, such as composite materials, thin films, flexible electronics, energy, biological applications, etc., many of which are already on the market.
Figure 1 Structure of graphene
As for the preparation method of graphene, the initial research method is to mechanically peel off graphite. method, but this method is not sustainable and the graphene extracted from graphite is less controllable.
Application of graphene in smart textiles
Konstantin Novoselov’s research team has increased research efforts in graphene-related fields and applied relevant research results On smart textiles or personal protective equipment.
Graphene can be used to print RFID labels and textiles. It exists in a variety of forms, such as graphene powder, graphene suspension or graphene conductive slurry, etc., and is used to make various electronic accessories. When applied to printable RFID labels, H-type labels or UH-type labels printed with graphene conductive slurry perform well, but it is difficult to print this type of label using other two-dimensional materials (Figure 2 ).
Figure 2 Printable RFID tag
Why choose graphene?
The main reasons are as follows:
(1) Graphene conductive paste can be printed directly on paper without any other operations;
(2) ) technology is ecological and environmentally friendly;
(3) The material has good flexibility;
(4) The most important thing is that the printable technology has flexible variability, reducing the traditional Waste caused by aluminum etching; minimizing material cost and technology cost.
Based on this, some companies have begun to produce green and environmentally friendly graphene RFID tags (Figure 3). It does not require the use of too much equipment and does not produce too much material waste. It only needs to use a very small amount of graphene conductive slurry, which once again demonstrates the reasonable price and eco-friendliness of this technology.
Figure 3 Enterprises produce green and environmentally friendly products Graphene RFID tags
In addition, there are many other application possibilities. RFID applications require the integration of sensors in electronic tags, such as temperature sensors, humidity sensors, electrical sensors, pressure sensors, and magnetic induction. Sensors, etc.; and you can try to use modified sensors to integrate different signals and deliver different results.
For example, graphene-modified yarn is used to make fabrics that can sense temperature. Graphene materials are stable and can be used in ready-to-wear or wearable clothing.
Konstantin Novoselov’s research team conducted an experiment in which they placed a hair dryer on top of a graphene RFID tag to heat it up. Although it was not connected to a computer, it could transmit relevant temperature information to the computer simply by placing it next to it. On the computer (Figure 4); by placing your finger on the tag, you can well feel the rise and fall of the temperature; which illustrates the excellent sensing performance of the graphene RFID tag.
Figure 4 Place the hair dryer over the graphene RFID tag to heat it
Graphite How can olefins and textiles be combined and applied?�
There are generally two combined application methods:
(1) The reduced graphene oxide solution can be used to modify the fiber by dip coating, and after drying, the graphene modified fiber can be obtained. functional fiber; after graphene coating is applied to the yarn, the functional yarn obtained can be used for sensors or connection conduction.
(2) Direct coating on the surface of the fabric, and then strengthening the coating through a rolling process. The choice of process mainly depends on the final application field. Both methods can be used to connect sensors, wearable batteries or RFID tags in smart textile products.
In addition, graphene sensors can also be used to sense pressure changes (Figure 5). For example, if the sensor is placed at different locations on the clothes, when the torso bends, the curve of the sensor output will also change accordingly. Therefore, the change in resistance can be easily judged based on the curve, and the resistance of the arm or elbow during activity can be measured accordingly. The sensor can sense a resistance change range of up to 10%, which is far more comfortable than the electronic device measurement method; and the test results of the sensor after washing did not change much.
Figure 5 Graphene sensor can also sense pressure changes
How to combine graphene with Fabric combination?
Since graphene has a crystal structure and cannot be pulled directly, elastic fabrics can be produced by stretching the fabric first, and then attaching graphene to the surface of the fabric. It is very soft and can be pressed directly; when the fabric is stretched, the apparent temperature also changes (Figure 6).
Figure 6 Graphene combined with fabric
Therefore, related materials can be used in some more complex applications, through Changing the arrangement of electrodes and applying voltages of different sizes gives different properties. When applied to clothing, it has the function of quickly changing the apparent temperature of the wearer; and related changes can only be seen through infrared devices. The information transmitted by different wavelengths can be seen , this new technology can be applied in the field of secure communication, and relevant messages can only be read under specific environments such as infrared cameras (Figure 7).
Figure 7 can quickly change the apparent temperature of the wearer when applied to clothing
Currently, graphene materials have been used in textiles Within the field, related demands will grow. Any new application requires research on how to modify graphene and how to make it meet functional applications. Therefore, the relevant formulas and production processes need to be upgraded simultaneously.
</p
