Screen Printing Carbon Nanotubes Textiles Antennas for Smart Wearables.

Electronic textiles have become a dynamic research field in recent decades, attracting attention to smart wearables to develop and integrate electronic devices onto clothing. Combining traditional screen-printing techniques with novel nanocarbon-based inks offers seamless integration of flexible and conformal antenna patterns onto fabric substrates with a minimum weight penalty and haptic disruption. In this study, two different fabric-based antenna designs called PICA and LOOP were fabricated through a scalable screen-printing process by tuning the conductive ink formulations accompanied by cellulose nanocrystals. The printing process was controlled and monitored by revealing the relationship between the textiles' nature and conducting nano-ink. The fabric prototypes were tested in dynamic environments mimicking complex real-life situations, such as being in proximity to a human body, and being affected by wrinkling, bending, and fabric care such as washing or ironing. Both computational and experimental on-and-off-body antenna gain results acknowledged the potential of tunable material systems complimenting traditional printing techniques for smart sensing technology as a plausible pathway for future wearables.

Graphene-Enabled Adaptive Infrared Textiles.

Interactive clothing requires sensing and display functionalities to be embedded on textiles. Despite the significant progress of electronic textiles, the integration of optoelectronic materials on fabrics remains as an outstanding challenge. In this Letter, using the electro-optical tunability of graphene, we report adaptive optical textiles with electrically controlled reflectivity and emissivity covering the infrared and near-infrared wavelengths. We achieve electro-optical modulation by reversible intercalation of ions into graphene layers laminated on fabrics. We demonstrate a new class of infrared textile devices including display, yarn, and stretchable devices using natural and synthetic textiles. To show the promise of our approach, we fabricated an active device directly onto a t-shirt, which enables long-wavelength infrared communication via modulation of the thermal radiation from the human body. The results presented here provide complementary technologies which could leverage the ubiquitous use of functional textiles.

Molecular basis for solvent dependent morphologies observed on electrosprayed surfaces.

We study the causes of the observed tunable hydrophobicity of poly(styrene-co-perfluoroalkyl ethylacrylate) electrosprayed in THF, DMF, and THF:DMF (1:1) solvents. Under the assumption that equilibrium morphologies in the solvent significantly affect the patterns observed on electrosprayed surfaces, we use atomistic and coarse-grained simulations supported by dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments to focus on the parameters that affect the resulting morphology of superhydrophobic electrosprayed beads. The differing equilibrium chain size distributions in these solvents examined by DLS are corroborated by chain dimensions obtained via molecular dynamics simulations. Mesoscopic morphologies monitored by dissipative particle dynamics simulations explain experimental observations; in particular, the preference of the polymer for THF over DMF in the binary mixture rationalizes the dual scale roughness driven by stable microphase separation. Drying phenomena that affect resultant dual-scale roughness are described in three stages, each interpreted by concentration dependent diffusion and surface mass transfer coefficients of the solvents. Irrespective of the presence of polar groups in the structure, a conflict between the lower-boiling point solvent adhering to the polymer and the less volatile solvent abundant in the bulk leads to perfectly hydrophobic surfaces.

Influence of Abutment Design on Stress Distribution in Narrow Implants with Marginal Bone Loss: A Finite Element Analysis.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of solid (one-piece) and two-piece abutments on the stress profile of narrow implants with marginal bone loss. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Solid and two-piece abutments were connected to a conical internal octagon-connection implant (3.3 mm in diameter, 10 mm in length) and restored with a single crown. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was used to simulate the stress distribution in implant models with different levels of marginal bone resorption (0, 1, 2, and 3 mm). The effect of the design variables under increased bone resorption scenarios, including abutment screw length and diameter, was assessed. Static loading was applied to determine the mechanical response of the implant and cortical and trabecular bone. RESULTS: Marginal bone resorption levels dominated the mechanical response under static loading conditions. A marginal bone loss of 3 mm significantly increased stress values in the implant vicinity and abutment screw. Both abutment designs displayed similar stress distribution in the surrounding bone, but lower stress values were observed in the implant body with two-piece abutments. The abutment screw length was more effective in the resultant stress, as the longer screws reduced the stress in the implants. CONCLUSION: Marginal bone resorption magnitude is the crucial parameter in biomechanics to determine the mechanical behavior. As bone loss increases, resultant stress around implants under mastication forces may lead to implant failure, regardless of abutment type.

MWCNTs/P(St-co-GMA) composite nanofibers of engineered interface chemistry for epoxy matrix nanocomposites.

Strengthened nanofiber-reinforced epoxy matrix composites are demonstrated by engineering composite electrospun fibers of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and reactive P(St-co-GMA). MWCNTs are incorporated into surface-modified, reactive P(St-co-GMA) nanofibers by electrospinning; functionalization of these MWCNT/P(St-co-GMA) composite nanofibers with epoxide moieties facilitates bonding at the interface of the cross-linked fibers and the epoxy matrix, effectively reinforcing and toughening the epoxy resin. Rheological properties are determined and thermodynamic stabilization is demonstrated for MWCNTs in the P(St-co-GMA)-DMF polymer solution. Homogeneity and uniformity of the fiber formation within the electrospun mats are achieved at polymer concentration of 30 wt %. Results show that the MWCNT fraction decreases the polymer solution viscosity, yielding a narrower fiber diameter. The fiber diameter drops from an average of 630 nm to 460 nm, as the MWCNTs wt fraction (1, 1.5, and 2%) is increased. The electrospun nanofibers of the MWCNTs/P(St-co-GMA) composite are also embedded into an epoxy resin to investigate their reinforcing abilities. A significant increase in the mechanical response is observed, up to >20% in flexural modulus, when compared to neat epoxy, despite a very low composite fiber weight fraction (at about 0.2% by a single-layer fibrous mat). The increase is attributed to the combined effect of the two factors the inherent strength of the well-dispersed MWCNTs and the surface chemistry of the electrospun fibers that have been modified with epoxide to enable cross-linking between the polymer matrix and the nanofibers.