How Wearable Textiles Can Be Cut&# 34; Self Healing&# 34; It Can Also Expel Bacteria

Science continues to promote intelligent fabrics, respond to environmental changes, and provide more "services" for their wearers. Now, an international research group has created a wearable textile that can repair itself, resist bacteria, and even monitor a person's heart rate. Researchers from the United States, Australia and South Korea created this highly conductive textile by soaking it in liquid metal (LM) particles.

LM particles have many advantages: high heat and conductivity, low toxicity, and antibacterial. As part of this study, gallium based liquid metals used by the researchers remain liquid at room temperature, which means that, unlike solid metals, they can be shaped into surfaces in unconventional ways.

The researchers coated the fabric with LM particles, which ensured that the pores of the fabric would not be blocked, making it "breathable". They found that applying force to the fabric coated with LM would break the non-conductive oxygen base layer formed after impregnation, thus making the particles conductive.

Adding more LM particle coating makes the fabric more conductive, and these paths can maintain its conductivity even when the fabric is cut.

The corresponding author of the study, Vi Thanh Truong, said: "When being cut, the conductive pattern spontaneously heals by forming a new conductive path along the cutting edge, providing a self healing function, so that these textiles can be used as circuit interconnection, joule heater and flexible electrode for measuring ECG signals." Joule heating, also known as resistance heating Resistance heating or ohmic heating generates heat by allowing current to pass through the conductor.

The researchers used their new textile to make fabric ECG electrodes for monitoring heart rhythm, and found that their performance was as good as the gel electrodes on the market. In addition, this fabric has a protective effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, two common bacteria responsible for hospital acquired infections, and is famous for its antibiotic resistance.

The researchers found that the more impregnating coatings on textiles, the better the antibacterial effect. After soaking once, the inhibition rate of textiles against Staphylococcus aureus was 17%; After soaking for five times, the inhibition rate of bacteria increased to 90%. They say the fabric's ability to repel bacteria will prevent it from being contaminated when worn for a long time or in contact with other people.

The researchers said that the versatility of their unique textiles makes them very suitable for use in hospital environments to create antibacterial bed sheets and patient clothing that can prevent infection and monitor patients' heart conditions.

The study was published in the journal Advanced Materials Technology.