Chapter 15 - Development of eco-friendly smart textiles from nanomaterials

Abstract

Smart textiles are emerging materials attracting great interest in terms of their innovative, multifunctional capacities thus increasing the satisfaction of consumers around the world. These interactive smart textiles are having a vast range of applications possessing different functionalities. Nanotechnology acts as a prominent basement providing a multitude of applications like sports, healthcare, fashion, protection, and the internet of things. The development of eco-friendly nanomaterials is a promising approach to modifying smart textile materials. Nanomaterials are unique compared to bulk materials because of their surface properties that pave the way to improve the functionalities of the existing products. Diverse areas such as flexible electronics with sensing, health monitoring, energy harvesting and storage, water repellent fabrics, radiation protection, antimicrobial, and flame retardant are significantly in high demand respective to their applications. Proper recognition of eco-friendly substances to produce nanomaterial during the development of smart textiles would thrive a path to conserving nonenvironmental and human impacts. This chapter will provide an overview of numerous eco-friendly nanomaterials followed by their applications in developing smart textile materials. Ultimately the future perspectives in terms of tuning the properties, selection of materials, and economic concerns will be discussed.