Abstract:
Conventional fabrics that have modified in to conductive fabrics by using conductive nanomaterials
have novel applications in different fields. This kind of fabrics can be used as heat generators with the help
of Joule heating mechanism, which is applicable in thermal therapies and to maintain the warmth in cold
weather conditions in a wearable manner. The modified fabric can also be used as a wearable sensor for
body temperature measurements using the variation of resistance with respect to the body temperature
deviations. In this study polyol synthesized silver nanowires (Ag NWs) are incorporated to bare cotton
fabrics by using simple drop casting method. The variation of sheet resistance of the fabrics with respect
to the incorporated mass of Ag NWs was measured by using four probe technique while the bulk resistance
variation with respect to the temperature was measured using ohm meter. Heat generation profiles of the
fabrics were investigated by using FLIR T640 thermo graphic camera. Incorporation of 30 mg of Ag NWs in
an area of 25 cm2 of the cotton fabric gave electrically conductive fabrics which can be heated up to a
maximum steady state temperature (at which heat generating rate is equal to the heat dissipation rate) of
45 oC, using a 9 V battery, with a resistance variation of 0.2 Ω oC-1. A simple microcontroller circuit was used
to actuate the cotton as a heat generating wearable temperature sensor.
