Search

The application of 3D printing technology has been relatively slow in the fashion industry. Both in the fashion industry and in 3D printing, the material used plays a very important role. In this direction, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is one material that has started to grab the attention of researchers, producers, and customers. While many have studied 3D printing technology using thermoplastic polyurethane material in the fashion industry from different perspectives, fewer researchers have addressed the actual adoption of thermoplastic polyurethane based 3D printing in the fashion industry. Thus, the present research has been focused to propose an adoption model for thermoplastic polyurethane based 3D-printed fashion clothes. Factor analysis was conducted to find and analyse the most relevant factors. Further exploratory factor analysis was conducted to test the proposed model. The study proposed a model for adoption based on four factors: motivation to buy, customer attitude, and the challenges and benefits associated with the adoption of thermoplastic polyurethane based 3-D printed fashion clothes.

Improving the mechanical property of the silicon aerogel while maintaining its excellent thermal insulation performance is still a big challenge in developing the next-generation thermal insulation materials. To solve this problem, the optically active polyurethane aerogel composite is developed via the sol-gel method to combine the advantages of the thermal insulation performance of the silicon aerogel and the mechanical property of the end-capped siloxane optically-active polyurethane. The prepared composite is characterized by the scanning electron microscopy, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the absorption-desorption curve, the thermal analysis, and the mechanical property. Results show that the composite has intact pores with high surface area and pore volume, leading to excellent thermal insulation and mechanical performance. Moreover, its thermal insulation performance is greatly enhanced due to the better distributed small pores and the thermal reflective effect of binaphthyl groups which collaboratively block heat loss from thermal conduction and thermal radiation. The thermal stability is similar to silicon aerogel and its heat resistance temperature is 445℃. The addition of macromolecular polymers increases the contact points between particles, the contact areas between particles of the network skeletons, and the supporting effect of the skeleton material, which ensures the stability of the material structure. The compressive modulus of prepared composite is up to 2.465 MPa, which is 600 times more than that of the pure SiO2 aerogels.

Human activity monitoring is a complex endeavor, which mainly depends on pressure or strain sensors.

By designing and preparing multifunctional materials exhibiting self-healing ability, problems related to their durability outdoors can be solved. This study, inspired by the self-healing mechanism of natural creatures, successfully prepared a dual self-healing multifunctional coating using temperature stimuli-responsive multicompartment microcapsules. Phase change materials (PCMs) were employed to load multicompartment microcapsules that were produced through Pickering emulsion polymerization by applying hydrophobic materials encapsulated by titanium dioxide (TiO

This work reports the preparation and application of microwave thermally expanded graphene (G)/polyaniline (PANI) conductive paste. The results from XRD revealed that the polyaniline did not change its crystal structure after being combined with microwave thermally expanded graphene. FTIR and Raman spectra revealed that there was a strong π–π interaction between polyaniline and microwave thermally expanded graphene. The resultant conductive pastes possess obvious shear-thinning phenomenon, which are suitable for screen printing to produce conductive circuits. The printed polyester fabric showed significant conductivity which can be tuned by changing the printing time and line length. This study paves the way to large-scale fabrication of flexible conductive circuits for various applications.

Efficient solar energy harvesting offers great potential for a global energy utilization beyond conventional fossil energy. However, current solar thermal approaches depend on sole molecular solar thermal energy storage (MOST) or photothermal materials (PTMs) by the rigid devices, leading to incomplete solar spectrum utilization and impossible wearability. Here we design the visible solar storage fabric (VSSF) with UV–Vis-NIR wavelengths utilization and wearable contrast photochromic display. This VSSF integrates the Azo-PCM@PS nanocapsule and Cs0.32WO3 nanoparticle, enabling the photochemistry thermophysics coupled energy storage and vis-NIR light harvesting, respectively. Rationally designed full solar spectrum utilization achieves high heat release (83 °C) energy efficiency of ∼4.8% under sunlight, which can protect human body from cold injury by a self-heating wrister. A photothermally-driven lifter based on VSSF is demonstrated to raise the targeted subject upon light triggering. Notably, the real-time energy state can be monitored by color change, in view of relationship establishment between color and energy density. This concept of wearable solar energy management provides the possibility of high solar energy efficiency by capturing sunlight through full solar spectrum.

Leuco dye-based thermochromic materials offer enormous potential for visible molecular logic due to the appealing reversible color-changing effect. The stable color state is uncontrollable as it depends only on the spontaneous protonation of the leuco dye and color developer. There is still a challenge to propose an effective approach to control bistable color function at required temperature. A family of azobenzenes with various alkyl chains (AZO(n)) is designed for protonation competition with leuco dye. The hydrogen bond and Van der Waals forces are formed between color developer and AZO(n). The color developer can be locked to provide the proton for the leuco dye by Z-AZO(n), while it can be released upon Z-to-E photoisomerization. The locked state can be lasted for more than 16 hours. This optically controlled leuco dye-based system demonstrates a visible sequential logic operation with four-input signals, and provides a new type of protonation-based optical control., The authors are grateful for the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (21975107), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (SBK2019020945), the European Research Council (ERC) through CoG “PHOTHERM” and the Swedish Research Council, VR., Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX20_1783), and China Scholarship Council (202006790096). Additionally, the authors thank Monika Shamsabadi from Chalmers University of Technology for polishing the language., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

A durable and reversible acid-induced discoloration azobenzene UV-curable lignin-based waterborne polyurethane polymeric dye (EDA-ULPD) is prepared from lignin, azobenzene and pentaerythritol triacrylate(PETA) by chemical modification of waterborne polyurethane. Lignin and PETA are chemically bonded to the polyurethane chain to improve thermal stability, UV resistance and color fastness, while also endow the polymeric dye with UV curing performance, which is a green and environmentally friendly fixing way. The acid-induced discoloration property of EDA-ULPD with azobenzene chromophore side chain is comparable to those of 4-ethyl-4-2,2'-dihydroxy diethylamine azobenzene (EDA). As the pH value decreases from 7 to 1, the maximum absorption peak of EDA-ULPD from 420 nm to 530 nm, and the color change from yellow to pink due to the transformation of EDA molecular structure from diazo to hydrazone. Interestingly, when EDA-ULPD is fixed to the fabric in the way of UV curing, its printed fabric exhibits the performance of high concentration acid-induced discoloration (1 mol·L-1 HCl) due to the cross-linked structure formed by EDA-ULPD. The acid-induced discoloration property of EDA-ULPD printed fabrics also presents outstanding repetitious stability. The stimulus response printed fabric with reversible high concentration acid discoloration possesses a broad application prospect in smart textiles.

Graphene conductive polyacrylonitrile (PAN) substrate is an important material, owing to its high strength, flexibility, and comfort. In this work, a PAN fabric was cationized with triethylene tetramine (TETA) for increased adsorption of anionic graphene oxide (GO), which mainly forms ionic bonds. The TETA-modified PAN (Amino-PAN) fabric was then treated with GO using a dipping method followed by in situ reduction of GO to obtain reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The electric conductivity of Amino-PAN fabrics was increased with the increasing of TETA modification temperature from 90°C to 110°C. A surface electric resistance of 0.61 kΩ cm−1 was obtained for 2 g L−1 GO and TETA modification performed at 110°C for 2 h. This resistance was considerably lower than that of the original PAN fabric for one cycle of the dipping–reduction GO treatment (1RGO-PAN, 42.69 kΩ cm−1) and six cycles of the dipping–reduction GO treatment (6RGO-PAN, 1.52 kΩ cm−1). The results revealed that the anionic GO was more easily adsorbed on the surface of the Amino-PAN fabrics than on the original PAN fabrics. The surface electric resistance of the 1RGO-Amino-PAN fabrics slightly increased from 0.61 to 0.79 kΩ cm−1 after 30 washing cycles. The results showed that the RGO-coated Amino-PAN fabric had excellent washability. Furthermore, the TETA modification process reduced the dipping–reduction times of the GO finishing PAN fabrics, and can be easily used in the production of RGO-based flexible conductive material.

With the increasing demand for smart wearable clothing, the textile piezoelectric pressure sensor (T-PEPS) that can harvest mechanical energy directly has attracted significant attention. However, the current challenge of T-PEPS lies in remaining the outstanding output performance without compromising its wearing comfort. Here, a novel structural hierarchy T-PEPS based on the single-crystalline ZnO nanorods are designed. The T-PEPS is constructed with three layers mode consisting of a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane, the top and bottom layers of conductive rGO polyester (PET) fabrics with self-orientation ZnO nanorods. As a result, the as-fabricated T-PEPS shows low detection limit up to 8.71 Pa, high output voltage to 11.47 V and superior mechanical stability. The sensitivity of the sensor is 0.62 V·kPa−1 in the pressure range of 0–2.25 kPa. Meanwhile, the T-PEPS is employed to detect human movements such as bending/relaxation motion of the wrist, bending/stretching motion of each finger. It is demonstrated that the T-PEPS can be up-scaled to promote the application of wearable sensor platforms and self-powered devices.

Piezoresistive pressure sensors based on conductive polyurethane (PU) sponge have attracted much attention due to their facile fabrication, convenient signal collection and good stability, yet it is a challenge to prepare a cost-effective PU composite for pressure sensing with good sensitivity and a wide strain range. Herein, a conductive poly(vinyl alcohol)/sulfuric gel electrolyte@PU (PVA/H2SO4@PU) composite is fabricated by impregnating commercial PU sponge into a PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte. The conductivity of the as-prepared composite is provided by the gel electrolyte and the carbonized PU sponge by sulfuric acid. Due to the typical porous structure of the elastic PU sponge and the high elasticity of the PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte, the composite shows excellent compression performance. The PVA/H2SO4@PU-based piezoresistive pressure sensor exhibits a good sensitivity of 0.080 kPa−1 in a tiny and low pressure range (0.51–3.01 kPa), a wide sensing range (0–80.0%) and a long durability over 1800 s (1325 cycles). Thereafter, the pressure sensor was used to monitor facial muscle movements, airflow, finger bending, grasping different amounts of weights, etc. This indicates that the pressure sensor obtained in this work has broad application prospects in human activity monitoring. Furthermore, the PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte is readily available and inexpensive, which reduces the cost of the composites for pressure sensing.

Considering the harm to human skin caused by excessive solar radiation, a simple method to indicate sunlight intensity and alert people instantly is needed. A solar-driven thermochromic fabric (SDTCF) with the function of light intensity monitoring is successfully constructed via printing a solar-driven thermochromic paste onto the surface of polyester fabric. With the enhancement of irradiation intensity from 100 W m−2 to 600 W m−2, the saturation temperature of the SDTCF increases sharply from 32.2 °C to 52.6 °C based on photothermal conversion. Under solar irradiation, the color of the SDTCF changes visibly from orange at ambient temperature (21.5 °C) to green (38.0 °C), which is attributed to the heat generated by photothermal conversion. The temperature decreases rapidly to ambient temperature once the light source is turned off, and the color of the SDTCF returns instantly to the initial orange. These results demonstrate that the SDTCF exhibits stable photothermal conversion and high-contrast reversible color change performance under sunlight irradiation. The SDTCF makes it possible to monitor the sunlight irradiation intensity in a timely fashion via color change for human body protection and health management. The SDTCF maintains stable solar-driven heating performance even throughout 100 heating/cooling cycles, and it shows outstanding durability against repeated bending, twisting, and stretching deformations.

The addition of pulverized grape pruning wood to grape soils has a positive effect on fruit quality. However, its effects on the soil microecology of the root zone and the growth of the grape plants are not fully understood. To address this, ‘Shine Muscat’ grapes were cultivated in media consisting of garden soil and crushed grape pruning material at different mass ratios [100:1 (T1), 50:1 (T2), 30:1 (T3), 20:1 (T4), and 10:1 (T5)] and in garden soil without the pruning material, as a control. The changes in the plant fresh weight, leaf area, soil and plant analyzer development (SPAD) value, root development, soil organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and soil enzyme activity were determined over time. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to determine the soil bacterial community structures. The pruning supplementation increased the grape plants fresh weight, leaf area, and SPAD values. The T2 and T3 treatments increased the grape root length, surface area, and the projected area and number of the root tips; the soil organic carbon content, microbial biomass carbon content, soil invertase activity, amylase activity, and β-glucosidase activity were also significantly increased. The addition of the grape pruning material was found to increase the bacterial diversity and richness 60 and 150 days after treatment. At the phylum level, Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the dominant groups, and the grape pruning material increased the relative abundance of the Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria after 60 and 150 days. The relative abundance of the Actinobacteria in the T2 treatment was 1.7, 1.3, 1.5, and 1.3 times that of the control, after 60, 90, 120, and 150 days, respectively. The T2 treatment was identified as the optimal treatment for grapes in the field because it improved the soil microecology and promoted root and tree development the most compared with the other treatments tested.

A sensitive electro-thermochromic Janus fabric driven by voltage is demonstrated via a facial double side coating. The graphene forms a conductive layer that allows Joule heating to supply the thermal resource for the electro-thermochromic behavior of polyester fabric. The thermochromic dye with reversible color-changing property is coated on the opposite side of the graphene layer. The color of electro-thermochromic Janus fabric changes from blue to white with a gradual heating that exceeded 45 °C at the applied voltage of 10 V. The switching rate of color is rapid with the increase of temperature from the room temperature to above 45 °C in 8 s, resulting from the superior resistive heating of the graphene. The electrical conductivity of the electro-thermochromic Janus fabric is not disturbed once undergoing a bending angle range from 30° to 150° and the temperature remains stable after 1000 bending cycles which clearly indicates the excellent flexibility of the fabric. The steady signal in the heating/cooling curve is observed after 500 cycles, pointing out the outstanding durability of the electro-thermochromic Janus fabric under the supplied voltage. It is realizable that the color of electro-thermochromic Janus fabric is triggered accurately by varying the supplied voltage. The simplicity of this design makes it attractive for the application of flexible electro-thermochromic textile, such as active visual camouflage, personal thermal management, and information displays.

The development of wearable devices has stimulated significant engineering and technologies of textile electronics (TEs). Improving sensing, energy-storing, and electro-heating capabilities of TEs is still challenging but crucial for their practical applications. Herein, a drip-coating method that constructs a dense β-FeOOH scaffold on a nylon strip for enhancing polypyrrole loading is proposed, which facilitates the fabrication of highly conductive and hydrophobic PFCNS (polypyrrole/β-FeOOH/nylon strip). The space provided by the β-FeOOH scaffold increases the mass of polypyrrole on fibers from 1.1 (polypyrrole/nylon strip) to 3.0 mg cm

A responsive function is significant to surfaces with special wettability, especially for breaking through their limitations in practical applications. We report a novel strategy, which is effectiv...

A dual-function silk fabric possessing crease-resistance and hydrophobicity is obtained by one-step foam finishing. A system with a high foaming ratio, containing hydrophobic reagent, crease-resistant agent, and foaming agent, is achieved by optimizing the hydrophobic agent. The results show the foamability and foam stability of finishing solution are enhanced slightly with the increase of the foaming agent dosage. The hydrophobicity and crease-resistance of the treated silk fabric are significantly improved. The contact angle of the treated silk fabric is increased to 132.6 ± 0.7° with the hydrophobic agent addition; meanwhile, the crease recovery angle was improved from 212.5 to 230.3° compared with the silk treated by crease-resistant agent, resulting from the cross-linking reaction of hydroxyls between the hydrophobic agent and silk fabric. SEM images reveal that the surface roughness of the finished silk fabric exhibits an obvious enhancement, indicating a film is formed by the resin curing on the fabric surface, which also explains why the crease-resistance and hydrophobicity of silk fabric are improved. The tearing strength retention ratio is increased 160% after the one-bath finishing of crease-resistant reagent and hydrophobic agent, and the breaking strength of the silk fabric is well maintained. The one-step foam finishing is a facile and energy-saving technology to endow the silk fabric with crease-resistance and hydrophobicity dual-function.

The durable superhydrophobic and oleophobic coating has been fabricated based on perfluorodecanethiol fluorosilicone polyurethane (PFDT-FSPU) and thiol-modified cellulose substrate. The PFDT-FSPU was prepared from a fluorosilicone polyurethane and perfluorodecyl mercaptan via thiol-ene click chemistry. The thiol-modified cellulose substrate was obtained by a condensation reaction of 3-mercaptopropyl triethoxysilane (MPTES) and hydroxyl of cellulose substrate. The crosslinked network structure was formed by radical polymerization of double bonds in the PFDT-FSPU when the polyurethane was irradiated with ultraviolet light, and it was anchored on the surface of the cotton fibers by click reaction between the thiol-modified cellulose substrate and the PFDT-FSPU. FTIR spectroscopy illustrates that the synthesis of PFDT-FSPU and Raman spectroscopy characterizes the structure of thiol modified cotton fabric. The water and hexadecane contact angle were 158.2° and 128.3° respectively, and oil-repellent grade reached to 8 and antifouling grade was 4, which indicated that the coated fabric exhibited good amphiphobic and antifouling properties. Most importantly, the coated fabric showed excellent durability and can still maintain the superhydrophobicity and oleophobicity even after 600 cycles of abrasion or 30 times of washing cycles or 168 h of accelerated aging test.

A novel functional disperse dye doped with graphene oxide for antistatic properties of polyester fabric was achieved, which means that the dyeing and antistatic finishing can be simultaneously obtained by a one-bath method. Functional dyes were used to dye polyester fabric by a high-temperature, high-pressure dyeing method. The surface microscopic morphology of the dyed polyester fabric, and the dispersion properties of the disperse dye, graphene oxide, and the functional disperse dye, were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The effects of the dyeing temperature on the particle sizes of three dyeing liquors were explored; this revealed that the temperature of the dyeing process had no effect on particle size. The dosage and reduction time of graphene oxide were investigated. The surface electrical resistance of the dyed fabric, 9.8 × 106 Ω, obtained at a condition of 2% (o.m.f) graphene oxide with a reduction time of 30 min, achieved A-grade antistatic standard. Furthermore, the rubbing and washing fastness of the treated fabric were 4- and 4 ∼ 5 grades, respectively. This preparation of the functional disperse dye provides a possibility in one-bath dyeing and antistatic finishing of polyester fabric.

A novel “off-on” terminated polyurethane based on the rhodamine B modified dye RhEA was constructed with the polyethylene glycol (PEG) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO) as soft segment, isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) as hard segment. The RhEA terminated polyurethane turned to red from colorless after 254 nm UV induction accompanying transformation of RhEA from a twisted spirolactam to a planarized ring-opened amide. The intensity of absorbance enhanced as UV induction time increased. And the color of the RhEA terminated polyurethane changed from red turned to light red (45 °C) and colorless (65 °C), reversibly. The RhEA terminated polyurethane showed good thermal stability. The thermochromic cotton fabric was obtained with RhEA terminated polyurethane via flat screen printing and it turned to red from white after 254 nm UV induction. The K/S values decreased nearly 65.8% at 45 °C compared to 40 °C suggesting the thermochromic cotton became light red and it turned to white completely at 65 °C. The lactam ring was still retained during the printing process and the thermochromic cotton fabric possessed thermochromic behavior after UV induction. They can be a promising candidate for developing a flexible sensor to monitor environmental changes.

A reversible temperature induced color changing cotton fabric had been fabricated via reacting with epoxy modified thermochromic capsule. Epoxy modified thermochromic capsule was prepared by the hydrolysis-polycondensation of siloxane groups of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) with the hydroxy groups of the capsules. The peaks of epoxy groups in FTIR and the silicon element in XPS demonstrated the GPTMS had been successfully grafted onto thermochromic capsules. The color of epoxy modified thermochromic capsule reversibly turned from blue to white with the color transition temperature of 53 °C, and the thermal stability was over 300 °C. The thermochromic process was displayed by photos and L*, a*, b* values in a heating–cooling cycle, demonstrating the reversible thermochromic property. The epoxy groups on the surface of thermochromic capsules can react with the hydroxy groups of cotton fabric and form covalent bond. The modified cotton fabrics changed reversibly from blue to white, the same as the capsules that were not bonded to the fabric. The covalent bonding between the fabric and the capsules resulted in excellent washing and rubbing fastness (3–4 grades and 4 grades, respectively).