Development of a Screen-Printable Carbon Paste to Achieve Washable Conductive Textiles

Conductive tracks are key constituents of wearable electronics and e-textiles, as they form the interconnective links between electrical devices/systems. They made by coating or printing conductive patterns on textiles weaving, knitting, embroidering yarns into textiles. Screen is a mature cost-effective fabrication method that used in textile industry. It allows high degree geometric freedom for design tracks. Current screen-printed have limitations low durability when washed placed under bending, typically require encapsulation layers to protect printed conductor. This paper presents printable paste formulation process based screen achieving flexible durable polyester–cotton using an inexpensive carbon The does not interface, smoothing textile, layer conductor textile. A resistivity 4 × 10−2 Ω·m was achieved. remains after 20 standard washes, resulting conductor’s resistance increasing 140%. demonstrated less than ±10% variation bending 2000 cycles.