Carbon nanotubes can conduct both heat and electricity besides having extreme toughness. Using a sharp, pointed instrument researchers have pulled carbon nanotubes into fibers along the plane of the substrate and were twisted and wrapped around each other as they were pulled to get a very even strand.

Chinese and U.S. researchers have developed a carbon nanotube-coated smart yarn which can conduct electricity and be woven into textiles to detect blood or to monitor health. The team combined two fibers, one natural and one created by nanotechnology, to build a new kind of smart textile. If a soldier wearing clothes made with this fabric was wounded, his mobile phone could alert a nearby patrol to save his life.

To make this fabric the researchers dipped 1.5-millimeter thick cotton yarn into a solution of carbon nanotubes in water and then into a solution of a special sticky polymer in ethanol few times into both solutions and dried. By repeating the process a few times, normal cotton becomes a conductive material due to the carbon nano tubes which are conductive in nature. The yarn is that it turned black, due to the carbon. The yarn was able to conduct enough power from a battery to illuminate a light-emitting diode device. In order to put this conductivity to use antibody anti-albumins is added to the carbon nanotube solution. Anti-albumin reacts with albumin, a protein found in blood and the anti-albumin-infused smart yarn conductivity significantly increases.

The smart textiles remain pliable, soft, more sensitive and selective as well as more simple and durable than other electronic textiles. Such fabric can detect blood and be useful in several high-risk professions. An unconscious fire-fighter, ambushed soldier, or police officer in an accident, can be saved the smart fabric can send a distress signal from a communication device such as a mobile phone from the clothing to a central command post. The clothes can be designed to store energy, which will provide power to operate small electronic devices. Other applications include wearable simple, sensitive, selective and versatile biomonitoring and telemedicine sensors, which can be made using a polyelectrolyte-based coating with carbon nanotubes integrated with humidity sensing and for albumin detection. Clothing fibers coated with cylindrical, nanosize carbon molecules that contain antibodies can detect the presence of albumin, a protein common in blood. The shirt senses that its wearer is bleeding and sends a signal through the shirt’s carbon nanotubes that activates an emergency radio-frequency beacon on the soldier’s belt. This distress call can be picked up and further action taken.

Functional clothing

Scientists at Cornell have developed functional clothing that can prevent colds and flu and never needs washing, destroys harmful gases and protects the user from smog and air pollution. The two-toned gold dress and metallic denim jacket contain cotton fabrics coated with nanoparticles that give them functional qualities. The garments show electrostatically charged nanoparticles creating a protective shield around the cotton fibers in the top part of the dress, and the sleeves, hood and pockets of the jacket.

The fabrics were dipped in solutions containing nanoparticles and its colors depend on particle size or arrangement. The upper portion of the dress contains cotton coated with silver nanoparticles. Researcher first created positively charged cotton fibers using ammonium-and epoxy-based reactions, inducing positive ionization. The silver particles, about 10-20 nanometers across were synthesized in citric acid, which prevented nanoparticle agglomeration. Dipping the positively charged cotton into the negatively charged silver nanoparticle solution resulted in the particles clinging to the cotton fibers. Silver possesses natural antibacterial qualities that are strengthened at the nanoscale, thus giving the dress the ability to deactivate many harmful bacteria and viruses. The silver infusion also reduces the need to wash the garment, since it destroys bacteria, and the small size of the particles prevents soiling and stains. The jacket includes a hood, sleeves and pockets with soft, gray tweed cotton embedded with palladium nanoparticles, about 5-10 nanometers in length. To create the material, negatively charged palladium crystals are placed onto positively charged cotton fibers.

In the case of an anti-smog jacket cotton fiber incorporated with special nanomaterials into a jacket with the ability to oxidize smog. Such properties would be useful in case of allergies, or for protecting from harmful gases in the contaminated air.

Water repellent fabric

The G3 Technology Innovations has provided water repellency and other benefits to fabric by using a coating of tiny nanoparticles of fluorocarbons by avoiding coating textiles with large quantities of fluorocarbons. This reduction in fluorocarbons is associated with safety against various health and environmental risks. Information on product availability is at http://www.victor-innovatex.com/.