Fabrication of electrically conductive superparamagnetic fabric with microwave attenuation, antibacterial properties and UV protection using PEDOT/magnetite nanoparticles

Highlights: • Producing an electrically conductive PET fabric with superparamagnetic behavior • Attaining the electrical resistivity of the flexible substrate lower than 1000 Ω cm⁻¹ • Obtaining significant UV protection and antibacterial properties against S. aureus • Shielding effectiveness of 13–17 dB by reflection of the EMI radiation Incorporation of electrically conductive and magnetic materials to textiles creates flexible wearable substrates with numbers of functionality as attractive alternative in many applications. Herein, an electrically conductive fabric with superparamagnetic properties was fabricated utilizing PEDOT/magnetite nanoparticles. Nanoparticles synthesis and deposition was carried out on the flexible polyester fabric through facile chemical methods. Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles was in-situ synthesized and deposited using thiourea as the both reducing and complexing agents on PET fabric via enhanced chemical precipitation method. 3,4‑ethylene dioxythiophene (EDOT) was polymerized on the treated polyester fabric through chemical vapor deposition in presence of ferric (III) chloride as both oxidant and doping agents. The morphology and particles size and their distribution on the fabric, crystal phase, magnetization properties and chemical structure of the treated fabrics were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The tensile and electrical properties of the treated fabrics were measured with Instron and two probe devices. The electrical resistivity of the fabric containing magnetite/PEDOT was measured to be lower than 1000 Ω cm⁻¹. The significant UV protection, antibacterial activities against S. aureus and electromagnetic interference shielding behavior were obtained on the treated fabrics. The conductive superparamagnetic fabric can be applied in biomedical, separation, energy generation, sensor and smart textile applications due to the considerable fastness and nontoxic behavior.