Microwave-assisted synthesis of silver/reduced graphene oxide on cotton fabric

Silver/reduced graphene oxide (Ag/RGO) coatings were synthesized on cotton fabric through an efficient chemical reduction method under the microwave irradiation. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscope. Surface resistance, heat generation, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE), hydrophobicity of the Ag/RGO coated cotton fabric were evaluated. Adhesive strength between the Ag/RGO coating and cotton fabric was also studied. The results show that cotton fabric is uniformly and densely covered with silver nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets. Compared with Ag and RGO coated cotton fabrics, Ag/RGO coated cotton fabric possesses low surface resistance with 5.61 Ω/sq and an excellent EMI SE which is more than 40 dB at the frequencies ranging from 1 to 18 GHz. In addition, Ag/RGO coated cotton fabric exhibit hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 135.1° and an excellent heat generation which can keep at temperature from 17.5 to 61.3 °C.