Acoustic Green Synthesis of Graphene-Gallium Nanoparticles and PEDOT:PSS Hybrid Coating for Textile To Mitigate Electromagnetic Radiation Pollution

Solid matrix-supported liquid metal nanoparticles have been drawing attention as a nanoadditive in the fabrication of electroconductive flexible and soft materials. The present work reports a facile, green, and sonochemical synthesis approach of gallium (Ga) nanoparticles embedded in reduced graphene oxide (RGO) under ambient conditions for the first time. The as-synthesized ultrasonic energy-irradiated RGO/Ga nanocomposite was studied using SEM, TEM, DSC, XRD, XPS, and solid-state NMR. Because of their electrical conductivity, RGO/Ga nanoparticles have been used as a conducting inclusion for a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) matrix and coated on cotton fabrics to develop a smart e-textile for electromagnetic (EM) radiation-shielding application. In the X-band (8.2–12.4 GHz) frequency range, the nanocomposites' EM interference-shielding efficiency was about 34 dB. Moreover, because of the liquid metal–graphene interfaces; the fabricated materials were excellent heat conductors reporting ∼44% increment in thermal conductivity compared to a bare fabric. The coated cotton textile's durability was tested under various conditions. The hard phase of the RGO/Ga nanoparticles is disseminated throughout the fabric, while the polymeric soft phase, that is, PEDOT:PSS macrochains, tended to interlink among the dispersed phases to construct a large spatial conducting network. Therefore, such a lightweight, flexible, and conductive e-fabric could be used not only for mitigating EM pollution but also as an alternative to commercial metallic EM wave absorbers in telecommunication, aerospace, and next-generation flexible electronics areas.