Technology Review: Carbon-Nanotube Thread

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Carbon-Nanotube Thread

Fabrics woven from highly conductive, nanotube-coated cotton are wearable biosensors.

Intelligent textiles could monitor vital signs, warn of allergens, even cool off their wearers when the temperature rises. But wiring up fabrics with sensors has proved a challenge: most electronic textiles are too bulky to be worn comfortably and can't perform sophisticated operations. Now researchers have coated conventional cotton thread with highly conductive, biosensing carbon nanotubes. The threads can be woven into fabrics that are lightweight and wearable but act as simple, sensitive sensors that can, among other functions, detect human blood.

"We wanted to create an alternative to the very complex electronic textiles" developed previously, says Nicholas Kotov , a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan. Many electronic textiles incorporate metallic threads, which are heavy and prone to corrosion, or fiber optics, which are bulky. And while other groups have tried to incorporate carbon nanotubes, which can carry both electrical current and data, into textiles, the researchers have had little success.

Kotov's fabrics, which are made by dipping cotton into a mixture ...

Carbon-Nanotube Thread

Fabrics woven from highly conductive, nanotube-coated cotton are wearable biosensors.

Intelligent textiles could monitor vital signs, warn of allergens, even cool off their wearers when the temperature rises. But wiring up fabrics with sensors has proved a challenge: most electronic textiles are too bulky to be worn comfortably and can't perform sophisticated operations. Now researchers have coated conventional cotton thread with highly conductive, biosensing carbon nanotubes. The threads can be woven into fabrics that are lightweight and wearable but act as simple, sensitive sensors that can, among other functions, detect human blood.

"We wanted to create an alternative to the very complex electronic textiles" developed previously, says Nicholas Kotov , a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan. Many electronic textiles incorporate metallic threads, which are heavy and prone to corrosion, or fiber optics, which are bulky. And while other groups have tried to incorporate carbon nanotubes, which can carry both electrical current and data, into textiles, the researchers have had little success.

Kotov's fabrics, which are made by dipping cotton into a mixture ...

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http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/21689/?nlid=1526&a=f

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/21689/?nlid=1526&a=f