Scalable fabrication of conductive silk textiles for integrated motion monitoring and adaptive thermal management

Abstract

The development of multifunctional smart textiles with integrated motion sensing and thermal management is critical for advanced wearable electronics, especially in health monitoring, injury prevention, and environmental adaptation. Herein, we develop a durable, scalable MXene-functionalized conductive silk textile (HMS-ST) with combined negative gauge factor strain sensing and Joule heating properties. HMS-ST was prepared by impregnating silk yarns with sericin (SC)-modified MXene (MS) ink, followed by hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) cross-linking to enhance mechanical robustness, wash durability, and oxidative stability. The textile shows an ultrawide strain detection range (1-100%), high negative gauge factor (GF = −6.08), and minimal hysteresis for high-fidelity motion monitoring. Additionally, it delivers efficient Joule heating, reaching ∼40 °C stably at 9 V with negligible thermal fluctuation under 50% strain. This work presents a mechanically resilient, flexible, scalable electronic textile platform for real-time motion tracking and adaptive thermal regulation, with great potential in biomechanical analysis, rehabilitation engineering, and extreme environmental protection.