Laser Writing of Janus Graphene/Kevlar Textile for Intelligent Protective Clothing

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 3219 - 3226
• Main Authors: Wang, Huimin, Wang, Haomin, Wang, Yiliang, Su, Xinyi, Wang, Chunya, Zhang, Mingchao, Jian, Muqiang, Xia, Kailun, Liang, Xiaoping, Lu, Haojie, Li, Shuo, Zhang, Yingying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 24.03.2020
• Subjects: Electrochemical Techniques; Electrodes; Graphite - chemistry; Humans; Lasers; Particle Size; Protective Clothing; Surface Properties; Textiles; Wearable Electronic Devices; NO2 sensor; textile electronics; photothermal effect; laser-induced graphene; Kevlar textile
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b08638

Protective clothing plays a vital role in safety and security. Traditional protective clothing can protect the human body from physical injury. It is highly desirable to integrate modern wearable electronics into a traditional protection suit to endow it with versatile smart functions. However, it is still challenging to integrate electronics into clothing through a practical approach while keeping the intrinsic flexibility and breathability of textiles. In this work, we realized the direct writing of laser-induced graphene (LIG) on a Kevlar textile in air and demonstrated the applications of the as-prepared Janus graphene/Kevlar textile in intelligent protective clothing. The CO and N–C bonds in Kevlar were broken, and the remaining carbon atoms were reorganized into graphene, which can be ascribed to a photothermal effect induced by the laser irradiation. Proof-of-concept devices based on the prepared graphene/Kevlar textile, including flexible Zn–air batteries, electrocardiogram electrodes, and NO2 sensors, were demonstrated. Further, we fabricated self-powered and intelligent protective clothing based on the graphene/Kevlar textile. The laser-induced direct writing of graphene from commercial textiles in air conditions provides a versatile and rapid route for the fabrication of textile electronics.