Fabricating electronic textile using nano MnO ₂ /polyaniline composites for capacitor device

In this study, cotton fabric was employed to achieve electronic textile by incorporating nano MnO ₂ and polyaniline as conductive materials. The treatment was accomplished via two consecutive steps, where different concentrations of MnO ₂ were initially applied by the ultrasound-assisted template method onto the cotton samples to synthesize nanoMnO ₂ . The nano form of the metal oxides and polyaniline inclusion were demonstrated through a transmittance electron microscope. Thereafter, chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline over the nano metal oxide–loaded fabrics was performed. Structure, phase, and purity of as-treated fabrics were determined using X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The thermal properties of the fabricated conductive samples were also tested. The electrical conductivity of the obtained (nano MnO ₂ /polyaniline) modified cotton fabrics showed great enhancement by exposing the modified samples to gamma irradiation, as a posttreatment, to reach an optimum condition at 40 kGy, using 0.2 M MnO ₂ . The recorded increment for electric conductivity was from 5.4 × 10 ⁻³ to 1.43 × 10 ⁻¹ Ω ⁻¹ . m ⁻¹ for both unirradiated and 40 kGy irradiated samples, respectively. Pseudo-capacitance of cotton/MnO ₂ /polyaniline fabric electrode was tested using a three-electrode system. The assumption of (nano MnO ₂ /polyaniline) cotton fabric conductivity was verified through a designed pseudo-capacitor as an important yet simple form of an energy storage device.