A stretchable fabric as strain sensor integrating electromagnetic shielding and electrochemical energy storage

Multifunctional intelligent fabric plays an integral role in health management, human–machine interaction, wireless energy storage and conversion, and many other artificial intelligence fields. Herein, we demonstrate a newly developed MXene/polyaniline (PANI) multifunctional fabric integrated with strain sensing, electrochemical energy storage, and electromagnetic shielding properties. The multifunctional fabric-based strain sensor possesses a real-time signal response at a sizeable tensile strain of 100% with a minute strain of 0.5%, maintaining a stable and consistent signal response even after 3000 stretch–release cycles. In addition, the multifunctional fabric exhibits excellent electromagnetic shielding capabilities, achieving a total shielding effectiveness value of up to 43 dB, and in the meantime shows attractive electrochemical energy storage performance as an electrode in a supercapacitor, offering a maximum specific capacity and energy density of 522.5 mF·cm−2 and 18.16 µWh·cm−2, respectively. Such a multifunctional intelligent fabric offers versatile opportunities to develop smart clothes for various artificial intelligent applications.