Highly Conductive and Machine-Washable Textiles for Efficient Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

The utility of current electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding textiles (EMISTs) for protecting the human body from high-intensity electromagnetic radiation is limited by their high cost, low manufacturing efficiency, and poor stability under mechanical deformation. More importantly, no existing EMISTs are truly washable, which is critical for optimized protection with direct and conformal contact with human skin. In this paper, by integrating silver nanowire (AgNW) networks and a polyurethane (PU) protective layer onto a commercial textile, a machine-washable EMIST with excellent EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) (63.9 dB @ 3.0 wt% AgNW) is demonstrated. Here, the EMIST has several key advantages, which include the following: 1) remarkable washing durability (89% EMI SE retention after 20 machine-washing cycles), 2) outstanding long-term mechanical reliability, remaining stable under various deformation conditions (e.g., EMI SE retention of at least 82% after 5000 stretching cycles), and 3) excellent chemical stability. The research provides a high-quality, affordable, and fully wearable EMIST that can protect engineers, soldiers, and civilians who work with, live near, or pass by electromagnetic or radioactive sources.