A novel preparation of silver-plated polyacrylonitrile fibers functionalized with antibacterial and electromagnetic shielding properties

•We propose a novel modification method to initiate silver electroless plating on PAN fiber without noble metal catalyst.•The silver-plated fiber we fabricated has good electromagnetic shielding effectiveness and antibacterial properties.•The metal layer has good adhesion strength and the properties of the silver-plated fiber can stand 30 cycles of standard washing. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers with antibacterial, electromagnetic shielding and antistatic functionalities were fabricated in this paper through modifying PAN fibers with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane (MPTES) sequentially and followed with silver electroless plating. The silver layer on PAN fiber surface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that the silver layer was plated uniformly and compactly. The surface resistance of plated fabric was about 40mΩ/sq on average. The antibacterial tests demonstrate that silver-plated PAN fiber exhibits excellent antibacterial property against S. aureus and E. coli with a non-leaching characteristic. The antibacterial property remains good after 30 cycles of standard washing, which is a strong proof of a durable adhesion between metal layer and fiber. The shielding effectiveness (SE) of silver-plated PAN fabric before and after 30 cycles of standard washing was about 40–80dB and 35–50dB, respectively. This resultant fiber can be used in many occasions for reducing or preventing electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic hazards.