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Textile electrodes for electrocardiogram (ECG) acquisition should be highly surface conductive and resistant to deterioration during the use of smart clothes in washing, stretching, and bending. In order to obtain conductive fabrics with great potential for practical application in ECG acquisition, thiol groups grafted polyester fabrics were coated with a condensed silver layer via electroless plating, where the electrical resistance was as low as 7.18 mΩ/sq. The stability of the conductive coating on the fabric in application was studied in the process of elongation, bending, oxidation, and washing. Polyester fiber has a high elasticity, the silver layer presented fracture trend after elongation, and the electrical resistance reached 14.74 mΩ/sq after 20% elongation. The conductivity of the fabric was less affected by bending, and silver layer fell off a little after 3000 bending cycles. After being placed in a constant temperature and humidity environment, the electrical resistance was almost unchanged after 9 weeks. The surface square resistance of the fabric is 0.93 Ω/sq after 200 washing cycles because of the high adhesion of silver layer to the thiol groups modified fabrics. The textile electrodes were embedded in smart garment to capture the ECG signals of a human in running states. The ECG waveform was still clear after 200 washing cycles and the measured heart rate increased with the increase of movement speed. The excellent performance of as-prepared conductive fabrics shows the feasibility as textile electrodes in ECG acquisition for practical application.

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Wearable electronic textiles with high conductivity and excellent antibacterial activity are very desirable to minimize health risks and deteriorated performance of the electronic textiles in application. In this work, conductive fabrics were prepared with chitosan nonwovens with inherent antibacterial activity as the substrate. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized in situ on the surface of chitosan fabric without any additional reducing agent, and silver nanowires (AgNWs) were adhered to the surface of AgNPs-coated chitosan fabrics by simple dip-coating cycles. The synergy of AgNPs and AgNWs enhances the conductivity of the fabric and the stability of AgNPs on the surface of the fabric. According to the analysis of scanning electron microscope and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra, AgNPs were reduced in situ on the fabric. With synergy of AgNPs and AgNWs, the electrical resistance of the fabric is as low as low as 0.93 Ω/sq and 0.20 Ω/sq after one and four dip-coating cycles of AgNWs respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis and inhibition zone assay showed that combination of AgNPs and AgNWs enhanced the thermal stability and antibacterial activity of chitosan fabrics. The chitosan fabrics with conductivity, thermal stability and antibacterial activity can be used in electronic textiles for different applications.

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