'Smart' Fabric Glows in Response to Allergens

Dec. 3, 2008 -- A cotton shirt that could warn its wearer of allergens or instantly tell where a soldier is bleeding is being developed by scientists at the University of Michigan.

The scientists created the electrically conductive cloth by dipping cotton fibers into a vat filled with water, a conductive polymer, and carbon nanotubes. The tubes soaked into the cotton fibers and remained after the cloth was dried.

"The process is quite elementary," said Nicholas Kotov of the University of Michigan, the lead scientist on the project. "But [the thread] is able to conduct electricity almost like metallic wires, so we were able to power a light emitting diode."

Carbon nanotubes are tiny, hollow cylinders made of pure carbon atoms and arranged in a flat, repeating hexagonal pattern. Diamonds, also composed of pure carbon, are, for comparison, arranged in a three-dimensional diamond shape.

Carbon nanotubes are lightweight and strong, conduct electricity, and have various optical properties that make them interesting to scientists. The current research was published in the online journal Nano Letters.

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The number of nanotubes in the material varies depending on the number in the vat or the number of times the fabric is treated. The more nanotubes in the cloth, the more electrically conductive the cloth is.

To prove that the cloth will hold a charge, the scientists attached a thread to a light-emitting diode and watched as it shined.