The development of intelligent and multifunctional fibrous systems based on GNPs has been a target of interest in the last years, due to its high optical electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, making it a great alternative to be use in a broad spectrum of application, in the most diverse areas. In this work, piezoresistive fibrous systems were developed through the incorporation of GNPs in natural fibers, namely in flax fibers. For this, several polymeric formulations and impregnation methods were tested and optimized.
For the development of the polymeric formulations, natural (chitosan) and biodegradable (polyethylene glycol) polymers as well as plasticizing agents, such as glycerol, were used. For the fiber impregnation with these formulations, the solvent casting and the dip, padding and drying methods, better known as dip-pad-dry, were used.
The developed systems were characterized using several techniques, such as TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis), ATR-FTIR (Attenuated Total Reflection – Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy), Raman Spectroscopy, FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy) and GSDR (Ground State Diffuse Reflectance), which demonstrated the presence and incorporation of GNPs in the flax fibers. Several features, such as antibacterial activity, UV protection and hydrophobicity have been tested and validated, demonstrating the multifunctionality of these fibrous systems.