Flexible MXene-Decorated Fabric with Interwoven Conductive Networks for Integrated Joule Heating, Electromagnetic Interference Shielding, and Strain Sensing Performances

Abstract

Although flexible and multifunctional textile-based electronics are promising for wearable devices, it is still a challenge to seamlessly integrate excellent conductivity into textiles without sacrificing their intrinsic flexibility and breathability. Herein, the vertically interconnected conductive networks are constructed based on a meshy template of weave cotton fabrics with interwoven warp and weft yarns. The two-dimensional early transition metal carbides/nitrides (MXenes), with unique metallic conductivity and hydrophilic surfaces, are uniformly and intimately attached to the preformed fabric via a spray-drying coating approach. Through adjusting the spray-drying cycles, the degree of conductive interconnectivity for the fabrics is precisely tuned, thereby affording highly conductive and breathable fabrics with integrated Joule heating, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and strain sensing performances. Interestingly, triggered by the interwoven conductive architecture, the MXene-decorated fabrics with a low loading of 6 wt % (0.78 mg cm^-2) offer an outstanding electrical conductivity of 5 Ω sq^-1. The promising electrical conductivity further endows the fabrics with superior Joule heating performance with a heating temperature up to 150 °C at a supply voltage of 6 V, excellent EMI shielding performance, and highly sensitive strain responses to human motion. Consequently, this work offers a novel strategy for the versatile design of multifunctional textile-based wearable devices.