Washable and stable coaxial electrospinning fabric with superior electromagnetic interference shielding performance for multifunctional electronics

Abstract

There is an urgent need for multifunctional and wearable smart devices to address the growing environmental impact on the human body, especially for pregnant women. However, it is big challenge to explore fabric combined multi-functions, such as EMI shielding, electrical therapy and biomotion detection while maintaining their intrinsic durability and washability. Here, we have employed an efficient coaxial electrospinning technique, followed by Ag precursor reduction and polydimethylsiloxane spraying to fabricate a multifunctional film which contains core–shell fibers with polyurethane/carbon nanotube (CNT) as core and polyurethane/Fe3O4 as shell. The CNT and the Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) form double conductive network for EMI shielding, electrical heating and biological motion detection. The Fe3O4 provides magnetic loss and helps the fibers to provide rich attachment sites for AgNPs. The obtained film has an excellent combination of high EMI SE (110.0 dB in X-band), large Joule heating (up to 230 °C at 3 V), good sensing performance and large sensing range of 230 % strain. In addition, it showed an extremely superior durability and stability in complex conditions, good breathability and wash stability, ensuring the comfort wearing. This study offers an outstanding paradigm to construct next generation intelligent fabric combined versatility, stability and wearing comfort for protection of pregnant women and military solider.