Textile Actuators Comprising Reduced Graphene Oxide as the Current Collector

Abstract

Abstract Electronic textiles (E‐textiles) are made using various materials including carbon nanotubes, graphene, and graphene oxide. Among the materials here, e‐textiles are fabricated with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coating on commercial textiles. rGO‐based yarns are prepared for e‐textiles by a simple dip coating method with subsequent non‐toxic reduction. To enhance the conductivity, the rGO yarns are coated with poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT) followed by electrochemical polymerization of polypyrrole (PPy) as the electromechanically active layer, resulting in textile actuators. The rGO‐based yarn actuators are characterized in terms of both isotonic displacement and isometric developed forces, as well as electron microscopy and resistance measurements. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that both viscose rotor spun (VR) and viscose multifilament (VM) yarns can be used for yarn actuators. The resulting VM‐based yarn actuators exhibit high strain (0.58%) in NaDBS electrolytes. These conducting yarns can also be integrated into textiles and fabrics of various forms to create smart e‐textiles and wearable devices.

Keywords

• actuator
• e‐textiles
• graphene oxide
• strain
• viscose multifilament
• viscose rotor spun