Flexible Smart Wearable Co@C@Carbon Fabric for Efficient Electromagnetic Shielding, Thermal Therapy, and Human Movement Monitoring

Pregnant women are often faced with electromagnetic pollution, edema, joint pain, mobility difficulties, and abnormalities in the heart rate. Designing targeted multifunctional intelligent wearable devices to shield against electromagnetic radiation hazards, relieve edema and joint pain, monitor movement and pulse is urgent. Herein, an unprecedented strategy is proposed to combine a metal–organic framework and a fabric substrate for electromagnetic interference shielding. Co@C@carbon fabric (Co-CCF) derived from ZIF-67@cotton fabric was prepared by simple in situ growth and annealing. Subsequently, the Co-PCCF was prepared by encapsulating Co-CCF using polydimethylsiloxane, which improves corrosion resistance and adhesive strength. Co-PCCF-1000 (annealing at 1000 °C) with a double conductive network structure shows efficient electromagnetic shielding performance (blocks more than 99.9% of electromagnetic waves). Co-PCCF with flexibility also shows fantastic fastness and stability to avoid damages during their use by pregnant women (still blocks more than 99% of electromagnetic waves after being repeatedly bent for 500 cycles at 90° and undergoing the ultrasonic treatment for 1 h and 1 M acid/salt/alkali corrosion for 12 h, respectively). In addition, Co-PCCF can reach the required thermal therapy temperature by controlling the voltage (1.5–3 V corresponding to 41.8–84.9 °C) and illumination intensity (0.2 W/cm2 corresponding to 70.8 °C). Meanwhile, Co-PCCF can monitor a wide range of human movement in real time, such as pulse, breath, and joint activities. Multifunctional Co-PCCF designed for pregnant women can effectively prevent electromagnetic pollution, relieve joint pain, and detect the human movement and possesses wide application prospects.