• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.233-239
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• 2020

We proposed a simple process of fabricating electroconductive textiles by coating conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS (Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)) on biocompatible PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) nanofiber web for application to smart healthcare. Electroconductive textiles were obtained by a drop-coating process using different amounts of PEDOT:PSS solutions., DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) was then used as an additive in the post-treatment process to improve conductivity. The surface morphology of the specimens was observed by FE-SEM. The chemical structures of the specimens were characterized using FTIR. The electrical properties (linear and sheet resistance) of the specimens were measured. The effect of the bending angles on the electrical properties was also investigated to confirm their applicability as wearable smart textiles. FE-SEM and FTIR analysis confirmed that the deposition of PEDOT:PSS on the PLA nanofiber web surface was successful. The conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS/PLA nanofiber web was enhanced up to 1.5 ml with an increasing amount of PEDOT:PSS solutions, but there was no significant difference at 2.0 ml. The optimum condition of PEDOT:PSS deposition was established to 1.5 ml. Even when the specimen coated with 1.5 ml was bent every 30°, the change in the electrical resistance values was still low within 3.7 Ω. It confirmed that stable electrical performance was maintained and proved the applicability as a flexible textile sensor.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.363-369
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• 2019

This study developed electroconductive textiles by coating polypyrrole to PET nonwoven-based Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) nanoweb made by electrospinning and applying the developed electrotextiles as ECG Electrodes. To find the optimum coating conditions for high electrical conductivity, the ratios of 2.6-Naphthalenedisulfonic acid with Disodium Salt (NDS) vs Ammonium Persulfate (APS) as an oxidant and a doping agent in the solution were changed from 3:7 to 7:3; the immersion time of the specimen in the solution was 1 hour. PVA nanowebs coated with polypyrrole under various conditions were filmed with FE-SEM. FT-IR analysis was also performed to examine the presence of polypyrrole nanoparticles in the PVA nanoweb. The electrical resistance of the treated specimens were measured with a Multimeter. Consequently, the PVA Nano Web was undamaged even after heat treatment that allowed for coating. Uniform polypyrrole nanoparticles then formed on the surface of the PVA nanoweb after coating. The measured electrical resistance was shown to be at least $12K{\Omega}/{\Box }$ from a maximum of $3,456K{\Omega}/{\Box }$. The proper amount of NDS content had a positive effect on the conductivity improvement of electroconductive textiles; in addition, the highest electrical conductivity was achieved with a ratio of 3:7 between NDS and APS.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.45-52
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• 2022

Recently, interest in and demand for sensors that recognize physical activity and their products are increasing. In particular, the development of wearable materials that are flexible, stretchable, and able to detect the user's biological signals is drawing attention. In this study, an experiment was conducted to improve the dip-coating efficiency of a single-walled carbon nanotube dispersion solution after fine holes were made in a hydrophobic material with a micro needle. In this study, dip-coating was performed with a material that was not penetrated, and comparative analysis was performed. The electrical conductivity of the sensor was measured when the sensor was stretched using a strain universal testing machine (Dacell Co. Ltd., Seoul, Korea) and a multimeter (Keysight Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA, USA) was used to measure resistance. It was found that the electrical conductivity of a sensor that was subjected to needling was at least 16 times better than that of a sensor that was not. In addition, the gauge factor was excellent, relative to the initial resistance of the sensor, so good performance as a sensor could be confirmed. Here, the dip-coating efficiency of hydrophobic materials, which have superior physical properties to hydrophilic materials but are not suitable due to their high surface tension, can be adopted to more effectively detect body movements and manufacture sensors with excellent durability and usability.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.101-107
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop the electroconductive textiles based on polyurethane(PU) nanoweb and to explore that it is applicable to smart clothing. The electroconductive textiles developed by coating 2.0 wt% aqueous dispersed non-oxidized graphene paste on the surface of PU nanoweb. The fabricated electroconductive nanoweb was applied as a transmission line to connect the LED lamp, and the brightness of the LED lamp was measured to confirm its performance. The nanoweb transmission line was fixed by two methods(seam sealing tape, embroidering) to connect the LED lamp and AA batteries. The results as follows, the brightness of the LED lamp fixed with seam sealing tape was about 82 lux, and which fixed with embroidering was about 57 lux. It represents that the nanoweb transmission line which fixed with the seam sealing tape has better electrical signal transmitting because the lux value higher than the one fixed by embroidering. In order to compare the performance of the nanoweb transmission line and the metal wire, we connected the LED lamp with copper wire. The brightness of copper wire connected LED lamp was about 193 lux. Although the electrical signal strength of the nanoweb transmission line was weaker than the copper wire, it was reachable to operate LED lamp. The results of this study will provide a basic data to develop the textile based electronic devices, and conducting wire for smart clothing.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.67-78
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• 2022

Interest in bio-signal monitoring of wearable devices is increasing significantly as the next generation needs to develop new devices to dominate the global market of the information and communication technology industry. Accordingly, this research developed a resistive textile strain sensor through a wetting process in a single-wall carbon nanotube dispersion solution using an E-Band with low hysteresis. To measure the resistance signal in the E-Band to which electrical conductivity is applied, a universal material tester, an Arduino, and LCR meters that are microcontroller units were used to measure the resistance change according to the tensile change. To effectively handle various noises generated due to the characteristics of the fabric textile strain sensor, the filter performance of the sensor was evaluated using the moving average filter, Savitsky-Golay filter, and intermediate filters of signal processing. As a result, the reliability of the filtering result of the moving average filter was at least 89.82% with a maximum of 97.87%, and moving average filtering was suitable as the noise filtering method of the textile strain sensor.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.527-535
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• 2021

In this study, electroconductive textiles were developed by screen-printing technology using a complex solution of PEDOT:PSS/AgNW on a polylactic acid nanofiber web. A performance evaluation was then conducted to utilize this electroconductive textile as a signal transmission line. To obtain highly conductive electroconductive textiles, this study sought to determine the optimal mixing ratio of PEDOT:PSS/AgNW. Sheet resistance was measured to evaluate the electrical properties of electroconductive textiles, Finite element-scanning electron microscopy images were then used to examine surface properties, and Fourier transform-infrared analysis was performed to evaluate chemical properties. The signal waveform characteristics of the electroconductive textile were observed using a signal generator and an oscilloscope. Radio-frequency characteristics were then evaluated to confirm frequency range, and bending tests were conducted to evaluate durability. The signal transmission lines produced in this study had a sheet resistance value of 3.30 ?/sq, and signal transmission performance was evaluated to observe that the input value of the voltage was nearly identical to the output value. In addition, S21 analysis confirmed that it was available in the frequency domain up to 35 MHz. The performances of the transmission lines were maintained after 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 repeated bending tests, and sufficient durability was confirmed.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.146-155
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• 2022

We proposed a simple process of creating electroconductive textiles by using PEDOT:PSS(Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate))/non-oxidized graphene to coat polyamide or polyurethane knitted fabric for smart healthcare purposes. Electroconductive textiles were obtained through a coating process that used different amounts of PEDOT:PSS/non-oxidized graphene solutions on polyamide/polyurethane knitted fabric. Subsequently, the surface, electrical, chemical, weight change, and elongation properties were evaluated according to the ratio of PEDOT:PSS/non-oxidized graphene composite(1.3 wt%:1.0 wt%; 1.3 wt%:0.6 wt%; 1.3 wt%:0.3 wt%) and the number of applications(once, twice, or thrice). The specimens' surface morphology was observed by FE-SEM. Further, their chemical structures were characterized using FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The electrical properties measurement (sheet resistance) of the specimens, which was conducted by four-point contacts, shows the increase in conductivity with non-oxidized graphene and the number of applications in the composite system. Moreover, a test of the fabrics' mechanical properties shows that PEDOT:PSS/non-oxidized graphene-treated fabrics exhibited less elongation and better ability to recover their original length than untreated samples. Furthermore, the PEDOT:PSS/non-oxidized graphene polyamide/polyurethane knitted fabric was tested by performing tensile operations 1,000 times with a tensile strength of 20%; Consequently, sensors maintained a constant resistance without noticeable damage. This indicates that PEDOT:PSS/non-oxidized graphene strain sensors have sufficient durability and conductivity to be used as smart wearable devices.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.138-145
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• 2022

Today, graphene loaded textiles are being considered promising smart clothing due to their high conductivity. In this study, we reported reduced graphene oxide(r-GO) deposited pure cotton fabrics fabricated with a colloidal solution of graphene(GO), using a one-step aerosol spray pyrolysis(ASP) process and their potential application on smart textiles. The ASP process is advantageous in that it is easily implementable and can be applied for continuous processing. Moreover, this process has never been applied to deposit r-GO on pure cotton fabric. The field emission-scanning microscopy (FE-SEM) observation, Fourier transform-infrared(FT-IR) analysis, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis, and ultraviolet transmittance(UVT) were used to evaluate material properties of the r-GO colloids. The resistance was also measured to evaluate the electrical conductivity of the specimens. The results revealed that the r-GO was successfully deposed on specimens, and the specimen with the highest electrical conductivity demonstrated an electrical resistance value of 2.27 kΩ/sq. Taken together, the results revealed that the ASP method demonstrated a high potential for effective deposition of r-GO on cotton fabric specimens and is a prospect for the development of conductive cotton-based smart clothing. Therefore, this study is also meaningful in that the ASP process can be newly applied by depositing r-GO on the pure cotton fabric.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 2021

With recent innovations in the ICT industry, the demand for wearable sensing devices to recognize and respond to biological signals has increased. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) spacer fabric was embedded in a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) dispersive solution through a simple penetration process to develop a monolayer piezoresistive pressure sensor. To induce electrical conductivity in the 3D spacer fabric, samples were immersed in the SWCNT dispersive solution and dried. To determine the electrical properties of the impregnated specimen, a universal testing machine and multimeter were used to measure the resistance of the pressure change. Moreover, to examine the changes in the electrical properties of the sensor, its performance was evaluated by varying the concentration, number of penetrations, and thickness of the specimen. Samples that penetrated twice in the SWCNT distributed solution of 0.1 wt% showed the best performance as sensors. The 7-mm thick sensors showed the highest GF, and the 13-mm thick sensors showed the widest operating range. This study confirms the effectiveness of the simple process of fabricating smart textile sensors comprising 3D spacer fabrics and the excellent performance of the sensors.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to develop a strain sensor based on a nanoweb by applying electrical conductivity to a polyurethane nanoweb through the use of Graphene. For this purpose, 1% Graphene ink was pour-coated on a polyurethane nanoweb and post-treated with PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) to complete a wearable strain sensor. The surface characteristics of the specimens were evaluated using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) to check whether the conductive material was well coated on the surface of the specimen. Electrical properties of the specimens were measured by using a multimeter to measure the linear resistance of the specimen and comparing how the line resistance changes when 5% and 10% of the specimens are tensioned, respectively. In order to evaluate the performance of the specimen, the gauge factor was obtained. The evaluation of the clothing was performed by attaching the completed strain sensor to the dummy and measuring the respiration signal according to the tension using MP150 (Biopac system Inc., USA) and Acqknowledge (ver. 4.2, Biopac system Inc., U.S.A.). As a result of the evaluation of the surface characteristics, it was confirmed that all the conductive nanoweb specimen were uniformly coated with the Graphen ink. As a result of measuring the resistance value according to the tensile strength, the specimen G, which was treated with just graphene had the lowest resistance value, the specimen G-H had the highest resistance value, and the change of the line resistance value of the specimen G and the specimen G-H is increased to 5% It is found that it increases steadily. Unlike the resistance value results, specimen G showed a higher gauge rate than specimen G-H. As a result of evaluation of the actual clothes, the strain sensor made using the specimen G-H measured the stable peak value and obtained a signal of good quality. Therefore, we confirmed that the polyurethane nanoweb treated with Graphene ink plays a role as a breathing sensor.