Abstract
The development of pH-responsive textile sensors has attracted much interest in recent decades. Therefore, the aim of this study was to show that screen printing could be one of the possible techniques for development of pH-responsive textile. Several parameters that could influence the pH sensitivity and responsivity of a screen-printed textile with bromocresol green dye were studied, such as textile substrate (cotton, polyamide), printing paste composition, and type of fixation (heat and steaming). The change in mechanical and physical properties of the printed fabrics was tested according to the valid ISO, EN, or ASTM standards. The responsiveness of the printed samples to different pH values with the change in colour was evaluated spectrophotometrically. In addition, the colour fastness of the printed textiles to rubbing, washing, and light was also investigated. The results show that the textile responsiveness to pH change was successfully developed by flat screen-printing technique, which proves that the printing process could be one of the methods for the application of indicator dye to textiles. The application of the printing paste to cotton and polyamide fabrics resulted in an expected change in the mechanical and physical properties of the fabrics studied. The responsiveness of printed fabrics to the change of pH value depends on the type of fibres, the strength of dye–fibre interactions, and the wettability of the fabric with buffer solutions. The colour fastness of the printed fabrics to dry and wet rubbing is excellent. Printed polyamide fabric is more resistant to washing than printed cotton fabric. Both printed fabrics have poor colour fastness to light.
Highlights
Research on smart textiles dates to the early 1990s
The results show that the application of printing paste leads to an increase in fabric thickness of 10.5% for cotton fabric (CO) and 0.53% for polyamide 6 fabric (PA6)
The higher increase in W for CO fabric was attributed to the ingredients of the printing paste, all of which remain on the cotton fabric, as the printed fabric was not post-treated after curing, which could remove the ingredients from the fabric
Summary
Research on smart textiles dates to the early 1990s. Smart textiles are able to detect and respond to different stimuli from the environment, while conventional textiles offer functionality without any responsiveness to external stimuli. Due to the versatile possibilities of using smart materials, more and more research in this field is focused on the functionalization of textiles that respond to changes in the environment. Application of chromic dyes, whose response to external stimuli (UV light, temperature, pH, pressure, electric current, solvent) is governed by reversible colour change, represent an important area of passive smart textiles. Colour stability was a condition, but today reversible colour change is desirable, especially for textiles that could warn people against harmful environmental conditions. Textiles that respond to different pH values by changing their colour are very useful as sensor materials. The colour signal of the textile would visually warn people about the change of the pH value in the environment [1,2,3]. In addition to the common already known electronic sensor system, textile sensors are much more suitable due to the following advantages, namely their flat shape, mechanical stability, flexibility, air permeability, washability, and reusability [4,5,6,7,8,9]
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