Multifunctional polypyrrole and rose-like silver flower-decorated E-textile with outstanding pressure/strain sensing and energy storage performance

Textile-based wearable devices have attracted much attention as they can improve the wearing comfort and safety of electronic products. This paper proposes a fabrication strategy for a multifunctional e-textile based on polypyrrole (PPy) and rose-like silver flower-decorated knitted cotton/spandex fabric (KCSF). The rose-like silver flower grown on the PPy surface by electrodeposition can further improve the surface roughness and pressure sensitivity of the fabric. PPy and rose-like silver flower-decorated KCSF can be used to construct a multi-layer pressure/strain sensor. The as-obtained sensor not only exhibits an ultra-wide working pressure range (0–900 kPa), but also achieves a high sensitivity (17.41 kPa−1 for low-pressure areas), which effectively balances the operating range and sensitivity. More importantly, the sensor can be used to accurately monitor different physiological signals, including the levels of swallowing, breathing rate, voice recognition, and sleep quality. In addition, an all-solid-state supercapacitor is fabricated using PPy-coated fabric electrodes, demonstrating a high areal capacitance of 978.9 mF cm−2 at 1 mA cm−2, an energy density of 80.3 µWh cm−2, and power density of 0.38 mW cm−2. The multifunctional e-textile with excellent sensing and energy storage behaviors is simple and easy to manufacture, with potential application prospects in the broad field of wearable technology.