As interest grows in clothes that do more than just keep you warm and preserve your modesty, Canadian scientists are developing non-woven textiles that exhibit a reversible colour change due to resistive heating.
Traditional fabrics can be improved by giving them another function useful for fashion medical or military applications, explains Alexis Laforgue at the National Research Council Canada Industrial Materials Institute, Boucherville.
Applying a current causes the material to change colour
Substances that change colour when an external stimulus is applied, such as heat) or electricity (know as (thermochromism or electrochromism respectively), can be added to fabrics to give them extra functionality. Laforgue’s new non-woven material is simpler than many of its thermochromic and electrochromic counterparts because the fibres don’t need to be woven through a fabric and the system doesn’t need an electrolyte layer.
To view the full Highlights in Chemical Technology article, please click here: Colour changing fabrics without weaving
Link to journal article
Electrically controlled colour-changing textiles using the resistive heating properties of PEDOT nanofibers
Alexis Laforgue, J. Mater. Chem., 2010, 20, 8233
DOI: 10.1039/c0jm02307h
