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Harvest of awards at Geneva's Invention Expo Silver Medal Durable, Washable and High Performance Conductive Textiles

Principal Investigator: Dr Zheng Zijian,
Institute of Textiles and Clothing

Dr Zheng Zijian (right) and his winning invention (left)

Dr Zheng Zijian (right) and his winning invention (left)

PolyU and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel have developed a novel electrically-conductive textile technology whereby the textile surface is modified with a negatively charged polyelectrolyte poly (methacrylic acid sodium salt) or poly (acrylic acid sodium salt) by in-situ free radical polymerization, and then treated with electroless metal deposition. Conductive textiles fabricated using this process exhibit robust mechanical and electrical stability under repeated cycles of rubbing, stretching and washing. They can also be integrated into wearable electronics to replace the conventional rigid conductive electrodes and wires.