Optimized preparation of electrically conductive cotton fabric by an industrialized exhaustion dyeing with reduced graphene oxide

Cotton woven fabrics were first dyed with a graphene oxide (GO) aqueous dispersion using a simple industrialized exhaustion dyeing process. The resulting fabrics were then chemically reduced to prepare the electrically conductive cotton fabrics. They were characterized by the FE-SEM, XPS and Raman spectrum and evaluated with respect to whiteness, electrical surface resistance and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Some factors affecting the process such as the GO concentration, dyeing and reducing conditions, and nature and concentration of the reducing agent were also investigated. The results indicated that GO could be fixed on cotton fabric by a simple exhaustion dyeing process and converted into the reduced GO (RGO) with a reducing agent. Increasing the GO concentration or dyeing temperature and time decreased the whiteness and electrical surface resistance of the RGO-dyed fabric. However, higher pH showed a reverse effect. Na₂S₂O₄ was found to be a stronger reducing agent for the conversation of GO into RGO on cotton fabric than ascorbic acid and thiourea. The reduction of GO-dyed fabric was easily completed by an increasing Na₂S₂O₄ concentration at higher temperature. Moreover, an increasing number of dyeing cycles decreased the surface resistance and impedance modulus and increased the abrasion resistance of the RGO-dyed cotton fabric.