Smart fabrics made possible by new metal deposition technique

Smart Fabrics Made Possible by New Metal Deposition Techniques

"For their proof-of-concept study, the research team dropped the silicon ink by hand onto the fabrics, but say the process could be scaled up and performed by large conventional printers."

A multidisciplinary team of researchers from Imperial College London led by Dr. Firat Güder from the Department of Bioengineering have developed an innovative technique to print metals such as silver, gold and platinum onto natural fabrics.

They have also shown that the technique could be used to incorporate batteries, wireless technologies and sensors into fabrics like paper and cotton textiles.

Ultimately these technologies could be used for new classes of low-cost medical diagnostic tools, wirelessly powered sticker-sensors to measure air pollution or clothing with health monitoring capabilities.

Metals have been printed onto fabrics, but until now the process has essentially coated the fabric with plastic which renders the fabric waterproof and brittle.

Published in Advanced Functional Materials, the research paper describes how a new approach would allow metal inks to cover entire fibers rather than simply coating the surface of the fabric.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-smart-fabrics-metal-deposition-technique.html#jCp