Machine-washable smart textiles with photothermal and antibacterial activities from nanocomposite fibers of conjugated polymer nanoparticles and polyacrylonitrile

Smart textiles based on conjugated polymers have been highlighted as promising fabrics that can intelligently respond to environmental stimuli based on the electrical properties of polymer semiconductors. However, there has been limited interest in the photothermal properties of conjugated polymers that can be applied to smart textiles. We prepared nanoparticles by assembling a conjugated polymer with a fatty acid via an emulsion process and nanocomposite fibers by distributing the conjugated polymer nanoparticles in a polyacrylonitrile matrix. We then fabricated the textiles using the fibers. The resulting fabrics based on nanocomposite fibers show a temperature increase to 50 °C in 10 min under white light irradiation because of efficient photothermal conversion by the conjugated polymer light harvester, while the temperature of a pristine polyacrylonitrile fabric increases to only 35 °C. In addition, excellent antimicrobial activity was confirmed by a 99.9% decrease in the populations of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli over 24 h because of the effect of the fatty acid in the nanocomposite films and fabrics. Furthermore, the fabric showed efficient durability after a laundry test, suggesting the usefulness of these smart textiles based on conjugated polymer nanoparticles for practical applications.