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Thursday, 23rd March 2006 (5820 views)

Technology firm NanoSonic is growing electrically-conductive textiles in a kind of homemade washing machine, Nanotechnology Now reports.

And company president Rick Claus, along with colleagues Andrea Hill and Jennifer Lalli, have been using their trademarked Metal Rubber – which incorporates gold and silver particles - as a vital ingredient.

Metal Rubber is a unique self-assembled nanocomposite material that combines electrical conductivity with flexibility.

Professor Claus said: "We can spin gold and silver into flexible fabrics and they are electrically conductive and nearly transparent."

The resulting material can be used in a variety of different applications – one being to shield people from potentially harmful radiation from radio frequency.

Professor Claus explained: "A cell phone can be wrapped in it and the incoming and outgoing signals are killed." Many people believe that radio frequencies associated with electronic products like cell phones could be dangerous.

NanoSonic's e-textiles are particularly functional because they weigh less than other fabrics that weave in actual metal wires. Also, they can be stretched because they have no metal layer that could flake off.

NanoSonic was founded in Virginia, US in 1998.

 

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