Closed‐Loop Recycling of Wearable Electronic Textiles
Marzia Dulal, Shaila Afroj, Md. Rashedul Islam, Minglonghai Zhang, Yadie Yang, Hong Hu, Kostya S. Novoselov, Nazmul Karim
Abstract
Abstract Wearable electronic textiles (e‐textiles) are transforming personalized healthcare through innovative applications. However, integrating electronics into textiles for e‐textile manufacturing exacerbates the rapidly growing issues of electronic waste (e‐waste) and textile recycling due to the complicated recycling and disposal processes needed for mixed materials, including textile fibers, electronic materials, and components. Here, first closed‐loop recycling for wearable e‐textiles is reported by incorporating the thermal‐pyrolysis of graphene‐based e‐textiles to convert them into graphene‐like electrically conductive recycled powders. A scalable pad‐dry coating technique is then used to reproduce graphene‐based wearable e‐textiles and demonstrate their potential healthcare applications as wearable electrodes for capturing electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and temperature sensors. Additionally, recycled graphene‐based textile supercapacitor highlights their potential as sustainable energy storage devices, maintaining notable durability and retaining ≈94% capacitance after 1000 cycles with an areal capacitance of 4.92 mF cm⁻ 2 . Such sustainable closed‐loop recycling of e‐textiles showcases the potential for their repurposing into multifunctional applications, promoting a circular approach that potentially prevents negative environmental impact and reduces landfill disposal.