Multifunctional green synthesized silver nanoparticle and polypyrrole-based e-textile for wearable thermoregulation applications

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) build upon existing technologies to develop truly smart textiles: garments that sense, react, and adapt. Thermoregulatory e-textiles are an area of significant interest across the field. Designing e-textiles that satisfy electrical performance and simple construction is a significant challenge. To address these issues, a simple dip-coating and in-situ polymerization method was used to develop the first example of a thermoregulatory e-textile using green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNP) and polypyrrole (Ppy), based on the method previously reported (Naysmith, A.; Mian, N.S.; Rana, S. Development of conductive textile fabric using Plackett–Burman optimized green synthesized silver nanoparticles and in situ polymerized polypyrrole. Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews 2023, 16 (1)). This methodology was optimized using a Taguchi statistical design determining the optimal AgNP-Ppy synthesis method to obtain high performance Joule heating e-textiles, novel within the field of e-textiles. Reactant concentration and reaction time had the largest effects on the electrical resistance of subsequent e-textiles. The result is the first example of an e-textile heater based on green synthesized AgNPs. The e-textile demonstrated exceptional Joule heating (120°C), low electrical resistance (37 Ω), resistive temperature sensing behavior (negative TCR = −0.0046), and increased thermal conductivity (19.55 l (Wm−1 K−1)); the strain sensing behavior (gauge factor = −0.07). This work extends knowledge of the development and challenges within e-textile technologies as the field creates the next generation of textiles.