Gold coated polyester yarn

Textiles are increasingly studied to use them as sensing and measuring devices of body parameters. For this purpose they need to be modified to provide on the one hand reliable and stable electroconductive properties and on the other they should be biocompatible. This can be achieved by depositing electroconductive materials such as metals on the textile surface. Gold is an ideal material to use as it offers the aforementioned criteria and can be applied as a thin coating on the surface of a fibre, yarn or fabric. We developed gold coated yarns that are highly electrically conductive, skin-friendly and stable. In this presentation, we describe the gold coating method and show first results of the characterisation of the coated yams. A commercially available polyester yam was coated with a thin layer of gold by using an electroless plating method. The plating solution was optimised towards the concentration of each component, the working temperature and pH. The quantitative analysis of the surface coverage of gold with EDAX and cyclic voltammetry showed in both cases a surface coverage of more than 95%. For the future, research will be continued to characterise the longterm behaviour of the yarns.