A team at the University of Cagliari, Italy, has discovered a way to make conductive cotton for use in smart fabrics.
By giving the fibres a coating of gold nanoparticles, combined with a conductive polymer, the material forms the gate of a transistor, allowing current to flow. This is then covered with a semiconducting polymer to make a full transistor. Each looks like cotton thread, and multiple cotton transistors can be joined by knotting, reports New Scientist.
The new transistors could be used in wearable sensors, making them much more comfortable for those who use them.
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New Scientist report
Cotton transistors weave comfort into electronics
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