Multifunctional Electronic Textiles for the Simultaneous Detection and Uptake of Hydrogen Sulfide

Abstract This paper describes the fabrication of multifunctional electronic textiles (e‐textiles) capable of simultaneous detection and uptake of hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S). Hydrothermal templation of the bismuth‐based framework (Bi(HHTP)) onto the textile installs a conductive coating from the molecular building blocks of 2,3,6,7,10,11‐hexahydroxytriphenylene (HHTP) and bismuth acetate. Electronic textile (e‐textile) surfaces achieve average Bi(HHTP) loadings of 8 ± 2 mg cm −2 , corresponding to 20% ± 4% of the e‐textile being Bi(HHTP) by mass, and demonstrate average resistivities of 1.26 kΩ cm −1 with good stability to withstand mechanical stressors. The resulting e‐textiles exhibit an analyte‐selective, concentration‐dependent chemiresistive response to H 2 S from 80 to 5 ppm, with good selectivity toward H 2 S over SO 2 , NO, NO 2 , NH 3 , and CO. The materials reach micro‐breakthrough capacities of up to 16.8 and 14.8 mmol g −1 under exposure to 4.6% H 2 S, for e‐textile and bulk powder, respectively. Spectroscopic analysis suggests that material–analyte interactions are characterized by the formation of polysulfide species. The resulting electronic textile represents a novel approach toward the development of smart membranes capable of simultaneous sensing and filtration of H 2 S.