Textiles

MXenes have exhibited an array of properties making them ideal for functionalizing fibers, yarns, and fabrics. In collaboration with Drexel University’s Center for Functional Fabrics (Prof. Genevieve Dion), we intend to leverage the electrical, electrochemical, optical, and mechanical properties of MXenes and their solution processability to create scalable smart textiles for energy storage, communication, sensing and thermal management.

  1. Incorporating MXenes into fabric: With existing solution-based textile processing techniques such as dip coating, spray coating, and screen printing, MXenes can be applied to natural, regenerated, and synthetic textile substrates with desired loading and intended geometry in a rapid and cost-effective manner. Additionally, MXenes have been incorporated directly into polymer matrix for electrospinning and used in liquid crystal form to produce 100% neat MXene yarns. Mechanically robust MXene-functionalized yarns have been demonstrated by our group that can withstand industrial knitting and repeated washing cycles while retaining excellent electrical conductivity.
  2. Wearable electronics: New work from our group includes exploring applications for MXenes in flexible electronics. A key part of this research includes creating textile-based energy storage solutions for wearable technology, usable for a wide range of applications.

Wearable supercapacitors. Image by Tetiana Parker.   

Inman, A., Parker, T., Bi, L., Wang, R., Greenspan, B., Tabb, T., Gallo, E.M., VahidMohammadi, A., Dion, G., Danielescu, A., and Gogotsi, Y. Wearable energy storage with MXene textile supercapacitors for real world use. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2023, 11, 3514-3523.

Leading group members: Prastuti Upadhyay