Highly Stretchable, Durable, and Printable Textile Conductor

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a highly stretchable and durable textile electrode fabricated by simple stencil and screen printing methods. It specifically investigated the effects of an interface layer as a planarization layer between the conductive electrode and the textile on the durability of the textile electrode. A stretchable conductive paste was synthesized by mixing Ag flake powder in a polyester. The conductive electrode was encapsulated with Ecoflex material. The stretchability and durability of the textile electrodes were evaluated via stretching, MIT folding, and dynamic endurance tests. The stretching and MIT folding tests indicated that the interface layer significantly enhanced the durability of the textile electrode. A highly stretchable and flexible textile electrode exhibited a low sheet resistance of $0.05 \Omega /$square, excellent stretchability of 70%. The textile electrodes also withstood stretching endurance tests of 10,000 cycles. The illumination of an LED with the conductive electrode was also stable under 70% tensile strain and in water.