Integration of multifunctional properties in polyester textiles through graphene‐derivative coating

Abstract An effective method for transforming traditional textiles into multifarious smart textiles is to functionalize textiles by conductive nanomaterial coating. The incorporation of nanoparticles on textile surfaces brings vital features, including antibacterial, antistatic, conductive, superhydrophobic, etc., thus enabling a multifunctional fabric with desirable attributes, including low weight, flexibility, mechanical stability, etc. The developing disciplines of nanoscience have revamped the field of high‐performance textiles. The present work synthesizes graphene oxide (GO) from graphite flakes using a modified Hummers mechanochemical approach and then dip‐coating polyester (PET) fabric, followed by drying; subsequently, in situ reduction with l ‐ascorbic acid was conducted to form reduced GO‐coated PET. The endurance of the coating over the fabric was evaluated after ten washes. Defense users can take advantage of such conductive multipurpose smart fabrics. Structural, morphological, elemental and thermal analyses confirmed the effective synthesis of GO from graphite flakes as well as successful coating performance over the fabric. Other performance tests were conducted, including water contact angle, antibacterial, conductivity, flexural rigidity (FR), water vapor transfer (WVT) rate and air permeability (AP) measurements. The finally obtained reduced GO‐coated PET fabric samples show superhydrophobicity (148.6° ± 4.43), antimicrobial properties against E. coli bacteria, lowest surface resistivity (1.63 × 10 6 Ω sq −1 ), increased AP (144 cm 3 cm −2 s −1 ), maximum FR (275.373 mg cm) and WVT rate (216.82 g m −2 (24 h) −1 ). These properties were satisfactorily retained after ten washing cycles. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.