Wearable electronics offer incredible benefits in mobile healthcare monitoring, sensing, portable energy harvesting and storage, human-machine interactions, etc., due to the evolution of rigid electronics structure to flexible and stretchable devices. Lately, transition metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) are highly regarded as a group of thriving two-dimensional nanomaterials and extraordinary building blocks for emerging flexible electronics platforms because of their excellent electrical conductivity, enriched surface functionalities, and large surface area. This article reviews the most recent developments in MXene-enabled flexible electronics for wearable electronics. Several MXene-enabled electronic devices designed on a nanometric scale are highlighted by drawing attention to widely developed nonstructural attributes, including 3D configured devices, textile and planer substrates, bioinspired structures, and printed materials. Furthermore, the unique progress of these nanodevices is highlighted by representative applications in healthcare, energy, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and humanoid control of machines. The emerging prospects of MXene nanomaterials as a key frontier in next-generation wearable electronics are envisioned and the design challenges of these electronic systems are also discussed, followed by proposed solutions. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/inf2.12295

Two‐dimensional MXenes
 : New frontier of wearable and flexible electronics

The worldwide resurgence of natural dyes in all fields is due to the carcinogenic effects of effluent loads shed by synthetic industries. Coconut coir (Cocos nucifera) containing tannin as a source of natural colorants has been selected for coloration of bio-mordanted silk under the influence of ultrasonic radiations at various dyeing conditions. For extraction of tannin dye from cocos powder, different media were employed, and dyeing variables such as dyeing time, dye bath pH, dyeing bath temperature, and the effect of salts on dyeing were optimized. For achieving new shades with excellent color characteristics, bio-mordants in comparison with chemical mordants were employed. It has been found that acid-solubilized extract after ultrasonic treatment for 45 min has yielded high color strength, when coconut coir extract of 4 pH from 6g of cocos powder, containing 5g/100mL salt solution as exhaust agent, was used to dye silk at 75°C for 65 min. Among bio-mordants turmeric (K/S=13.828) and among chemical mordants iron has shown excellent results (K/S=2.0856). Physiochemical analysis of fabric before and after US treatment shows that there is no change in the chemical structure of the fabric. It is found that ultrasonic waves have excellent potential to isolate the colorant followed by dyeing and environmental friendly mordanting at optimal conditions, but also the usage of herbal-based plant anchors, i.e., bio-mordants, has made the natural dyeing process more sustainable and clean.

Ecofriendly application of coconut coir (Cocos nucifera) extract for silk dyeing

Natural dyes exhibit a low dye uptake when cellulosic fiber dyeing is carried out using a conventional water bath dyeing process. In this research, cotton fabric was exhaust dyed in a microemulsion dyebath containing cacao husk extracts dye and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) to achieve higher dye exhaustion percentage on cotton fiber, which is an environmentally beneficial dyeing process. The adsorption behavior of cacao husk extract dye in a D5 microemulsion system was investigated under conditions of varied dye mass (1–8% o.w.f), dyeing time (5–500 min), and dyeing temperatures (333–373 K). Kinetic modelling of cacao husk extracts dye/D5 adsorption on cotton fiber was studied by fitting experimental data to pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetics, and the intraparticle diffusion model. Early results indicated that the kinetic model of adsorption of cacao husk extracts dye on cotton fiber followed the pseudo second-order model. Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin–Radushkevich adsorption isotherm models were employed to analyze the adsorption isotherms, and the results showed that the adsorption process fit well with the Langmuir model compared to the Freundlich isotherm. The mean adsorption energy from the Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm model implied that adsorption of the cacao husk extracts onto cotton was accompanied with a physical process. The values of standard enthalpy (ΔH° > 0), standard entropy (ΔS° > 0), and Gibbs free energy (ΔG° < 0) strongly reflected that the adsorption of the cacao husk extracts onto cotton was thermodynamically favourable and feasible. Thus, waterless dyeing of cotton fabric using a natural dye/D5 system explores a sustainable dyeing technology with higher dye exhaustion percentage.

Adsorption, kinetics, and thermodynamic studies of cacao husk extracts in waterless sustainable dyeing of cotton fabric

Textile dyehouses are under scrutiny because they discharge colored and hazardous effluents to waterways. There is a need to develop an alternative dyeing system that does not produce any hazardous effluent. The waterless dyeing method could be a viable eco-friendly alternative to the traditional aqueous dyeing method. In this work, cacao husk extracts were used as a natural dye in the decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5) medium for the dyeing of cotton fabric, and subsequently, the dyed cotton was treated by a fixation treatment with a cationic dye-fixing agent in the D5 medium. The cotton fabric dyed with cacao husk extracts exhaustion in the waterless D5 medium exhibited better exhaustion, fixation rate, color strength (K/S), and colorfastness to washing and rubbing compared to the fabric dyed with the same extracts using the conventional aqueous dyeing and dye-fixing methods. The dye exhaustion percentage and the dye fixation rate were 95.6% and 94.8% in the D5 medium respectively, which is significantly higher in comparison to a 48.2% dye exhaustion percentage and a 35.3% dye fixation rate in the conventional water medium. An orthogonal array design (L9) was adopted to optimize the dyeing conditions with respect to exhaustion percentage. The results indicated that the dyebath temperature was the most important factor for achieving the optimal dye exhaustion, and dyeing time also showed considerable effects. Linear regression was used to predict the exhaustion percentage, and the resulting p value of 0.000 demonstrated that a strong coefficient was proven among all selected factors. This study has demonstrated that dyeing of cotton fabric with cacao husk extracts in the D5 dyeing system can be a viable method for the textile industry with minimal environmental pollution.

Effluent-free deep dyeing of cotton fabric with cacao husk extracts using the Taguchi optimization method

Recent advances in the surface modification strategies to improve functional finishing of cotton with natural colourants - A review

Functional modification of cellulose by chitosan and gamma radiation for higher grafting of UV protective natural chromophores

The desire for close human contact with electronic components for portable sensing, energy harvesting, and healthcare has sparked massive advances in wearable textile electronic (textronic) technology. Hierarchical textile assemblies (yarn/fibers,...

Luthfar Rahman Liman

Papers

Functional modification of cellulose by chitosan and gamma radiation for higher grafting of UV protective natural chromophores

Emerging Washable Textronics for Imminent E-Waste Mitigation: Strategies, Reliability, and Perspective

Plant tannin and chitosan-templated cellulose for improved absorption of UV protective natural chromophores