Too powerful: Nanofabric that both recharges and protects against disease

Recently, the Textile Nanotechnology Laboratory of Cornell University in the United States has created a new type of fabric that can sterilize, conduct electricity, prevent miasma, absorb harmful gases, and can weave transistors into shirts and dresses.

“In the nanoworld, we can control cellulose-based materials at the atomic level,” said Estroza, who heads the lab and is an associate professor in the Department of Fiber Science at Cornell University.

Now, the team has turned cotton fibers into electronic components, such as transistors and thermistors, so instead of adding electronic components to the fibers, the researchers directly made the fibers into electronic components.

“This project uses carbon fiber to make transistors and other components, bringing a new perspective to the seamless connection of electronic products and textiles, thus providing the possibility for the production of unique wearable electronic devices.” Estroza said . Taking advantage of cotton’s irregular morphology, researchers added conformal coatings containing gold nanoparticles and semi-conductive and conductive polymers to natural cotton fibers to adjust their properties.

Not only that, researchers also used conductive cotton threads to create a kind of clothing that can charge iPhones: cut ultra-thin solar panels into appropriate shapes and bury the USB charging socket on the waist. Clothes that are stimulated in the southwest can Capture enough sunlight to charge cell phones and other handheld devices.

The technology could be embedded into shirts to measure heart rate and analyze sweat, sewn into pillows to detect brain signals, or applied to interactive textile products with heating and cooling capabilities.

In addition, by synthesizing nanoparticles and attaching them to cotton, not only can its surface be colored without using dyes, but the new surface can kill 99.9% of bacteria, which can be used to prevent colds, flu and other diseases .

Two of Estroza’s students used metal-organic framework molecules to create a hooded body suit to ward off malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Other students have also used metal-organic frameworks to create masks and hoods that capture toxic gases in specific ways.

“We hope to harness the power of these molecules to absorb gases and mix metal-organic frameworks into fibers, so that we can create very effective filtration systems.” Estroza explained that they also often look for ways to make cotton cloth into A new approach to canvas to give it endless modern uses.