Multifunctional silk textile composites functionalized with silver nanowires

Abstract

AbstractThe low electrical conductivity of silk textile structures is a crucial factor limiting their practical applications. Silk‐based materials need modifications with different electroconductive compounds and structures. This report presents functionalization with silver nanowires (AgNWs) using polydopamine (PDA) as a linker. AgNWs create 3 and 10 g/m2 conductive networks on silk fabric. The surface resistance is estimated to be 1.5 × 105 Ω and 1.0 × 103 Ω, while volume resistance is 2.3 × 103 Ω and 6.8 × 102 Ω respectively to less and more developed AgNWs networks. AgNWs‐coated silk fabric is more thermally stable and provides thermal shielding. AgNWs functionalization makes silk fabric more hydrophilic due to PDA and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) influence. PVP acts as a capping agent during AgNWs synthesis and remains on their surface. Silk fabric functionalized with AgNWs reveals above 99.94% reduction of bacterial growth against Gram‐positive and ‐negative bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae, respectively. The bacteriostatic and biocidal coefficients are respectively above 7.2 and 3.3 for both bacteria types. AgNWs do not harmfully influence excellent silk mechanical properties. The specific strength does not change significantly and the elongation at break is even improved. The presented AgNWs functionalized silk fabric has useful physical, antimicrobial, and electronic properties for designing multimodal textile products.