# Conductive Textiles for Signal Sensing and Technical Applications
## 5 Application of Conductive Textiles
### EM Shielding Textiles  
The rapid expansion of electronic technologies and the vast spread of advanced electrical components in automation, communications, space, computations, and other sectors have introduced the adverse effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI)--mainly in the radio frequency ranging from \(10^{4}\) to \(10^{12}\) Hz. Many international radiation regulatory bodies, such as the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency Standard (ARPANSA) and International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), have set the safety limit for a specific absorption rate of radiation within 2 WKg\({}^{-1}\) of human tissue [327; 328]. Wearable EM shielding has become a crucial demand to prevent adverse biological effects, such as raising human eye temperature [329], damaging the human  
Figure 10: (**a**) A schematic diagram showing the e-yarn (electronic yarn) structure, with an LED (light-emitting diode) protected by a micro pod and surrounded by a knitted sheath. (**b**) A completed e-yarn containing an LED (illuminated) shown at 30\(\times\) magnification (reprinted from [324]). tissues, leading to childhood cancer [330], and even causing hazardous effects on the human reproduction system [331] from EM radiation generated from electrical devices. A distinguished aspect of conductive textiles is that they can interact with electromagnetic radiation (EMR) by absorbing and deflecting EM waves [278]. This feature facilitates the employment of conductive textiles in EM shielding devices very solemnly. CNT/PANI-coated fabrics were developed, which exhibited a low sheet resistance (20.1 \(\pm\) 1.7 \(\Omega\)/sq) along with a moderate range of EMI SE of 23 dB over the frequency range of 4-6 GHz (C-band) and possessed high EMSE retention against various treatments such as wash, sonication, acidic, and alkali [332]. [PERSON] et al. reported eco-friendly EM shielding textiles consisting of SWCNT, biomass-derived chitosan, and glucaric acid coatings, which retained a convenient EMI SE of 30 dB and better durability than Ag or Ag/polymer composite-film-coated textiles [333]. [PERSON] et al. described multi-layered PANI/MXene/CF fabrics with appropriate EMI shielding properties (26 dB) included with high specific shielding effectiveness (135.5 dB-cm\({}^{3}\)/g) [334]. In another study, they coated 1D PANI NW/2D MXene nanosheets/carbon fiber fabrics with PDS, resulting in an outstanding increase in EMI shielding performance (SE = 35.3 dB, SSE = 63.8 dB-cm\({}^{3}\)/g) even at a very low thickness (0.376 mm) with a convenient self-cleaning and air permeability performance, which would provide great access to commercial EMI shielding textiles [335]. [PERSON] et al. demonstrated a machine washable, highly conductive (1227 Sm\({}^{-1}\)) EMI shielding textile prepared with PU/AgNWs, which exhibited an excellent SE of 63.9 dB--even at a lower density (0.34 gcm\({}^{-3}\)) and thickness (0.6 mm) compared to other metallic shielding textiles based on AgNW, copper nanowire (CuNW), and CNTs--and it could be integrated even in harsh conditions with long-term EMI shielding durability [336]. [PERSON] et al. reported a water-resistant, breathable, mechanically robust PDMS-coated nickel ferrite/MWCNTs/cotton fabrics with a superior EM SE of 84.5 dB in the X-band and an outstanding EMI SE retention (above 90%) against washing cycles [169]. AgNW/Fe\({}_{3}\)O\({}_{4}\)/PDMS coating was integrated on cotton fabrics, having an outstanding EMI SE of 100.9 dB, which could withstand extreme acidic (pH = 2) and alkali (pH = 12) conditions and retain about 96% and 99% of SE retention, respectively [337]. An ultrahigh SE of 106 dB was evaluated for AgNW/PU/carbon fiber fabrics that retained 95.8 dB of SE even after 100 peeling cycles [338]. Shielding effectiveness (SE) is the total shielding through absorption (SE\({}_{\text{a}}\)), reflection (SE\({}_{\text{r}}\)), and multiple reflections (SE\({}_{\text{m}}\)).