Waterproof and durable screen printed silver conductive tracks on textiles

Abstract

Conductive textiles are fabrics that include conductive yarns woven into or conductive tracks printed on to the textiles. Conductive textiles have attracted significant attention, since they are fundamental for the integration of electronic functions to achieve wearable devices. Screen printing is a well-established and cost-effective fabrication method; it enables a versatile layout of conductive tracks. The limitation of the current screen-printed conductive textiles is low durability to weathering, abrasion and washing. This paper presents a process for producing a waterproof and durable conductive textile using only screen printing. A three functional layer design was used to fabricate the durable conductive tracks. Firstly, an interface layer was printed to provide a smooth surface for subsequent printing, under-side protection and electrical insulation. Next, a silver layer provided the conductive track and finally an encapsulation layer was printed on top to provide upper-side protection and electrical insulation. The printed silver tracks achieved maximum conductivity using a single print. The conductivity of the silver tracks returned to its original value when they were dried after soaking in water continuously for 24 hours.