Date

2022-11-23

Author

Doğanay, Doğa

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The demand for functional textiles has been increasing for the last two decades. In particular, advancements in the internet of things, artificial intelligence and data science have forced scientists and engineers to develop better functional and/or electronic textiles that meet consumer demands. However, due to some deficiencies, functional textiles could not reach their true potential. Some of these deficiencies can be addressed with practice-based approaches. On the other hand, there are also some universal challenges that require urgent solutions with an inclusive approach. First of all, the materials that give functionality must offer high performance and be non-toxic. In addition, functional textiles must function stably for a long period of time. Both the production methods of the materials and their application to textiles must be suitable for mass production. Another shortcoming of electronic textiles is their use with rechargeable batteries. Providing the power requirements of these devices with external batteries is one of the most important factors limiting their daily use. In this thesis, silver nanowires (Ag NWs) were preferred as the functional materials due to their high conductivity and low toxicity compared to their counterparts. Ag NW based functional and electronic textiles were developed considering the design criteria mentioned above. The antimicrobial efficacy of the Ag NW modified fabrics against a wide range of bacteria was first investigated. A small amount of Ag NW modification onto conventional fabrics has been shown to provide superior antimicrobial performance against a Gram-positive coccus (Staphylococcus aureus), a Gram-negative bacillus (Escherichia coli), a Gram-positive and spore-forming bacillus (Bacillus cereus), and a yeast-like fungus (Candida albicans). Later, Ag NW decorated fabrics were used as high-performance heatable textiles that operate under low voltage suitable for wearable and mobile applications. It has been shown that these fabrics can be heated to 50 oC under an applied power density of 0.05 W/cm2. The Ag NW based heatable textiles developed in this part of the thesis possessed superior mechanical stability and have a strong potential for use in winter clothing. Then, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) films were laminated onto Ag NW decorated fabrics and it was found that the fabrics gained superior washing resistance. Moreover, the same structure has shown superior potential when used as triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) that can harvest energy from body movements. The fabric-based TENGs developed in this thesis have one of the highest power outputs (1.25 W/m2) compared to the literature. A self-powered human-machine interface device was also developed with these fabric-based TENGs. Finally, Ag NWs were utilized as conductive electrode core fibers in core/shell wet spun fiber-based TENGs. All these different applications revealed the strong potential of Ag NWs for functional and electronic textiles.

Subject Keywords

Silver Nanowires, Antimicrobial Fabrics, Heated Fabrics, Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerators

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/101249

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis