A Facile Strategy Based on Ionic Liquids to Modulate the Antibacterial, Flame‐Retardant, and Sensing Properties of Cotton Fabrics

Abstract Surface treatment of textiles causes a significant amount of environmental pollution and endowing traditional fabrics with multiple functions through facile methods remains challenging. Here a simple strategy is proposed involving the copolymerization of methacrylic acid (MA) functionalized cotton fabric (CF) with vinyl‐functionalized ionic liquid (IL). The resulting CF‐PIL (where P refers to poly) shows high bacteriostatic reduction rates (BR > 99%), excellent flame retardancy (LOI = 28.1%), together with high sensitivity and quick responsiveness. The CF‐PIL exhibits unparalleled reliability even after 50 washing cycles. The CF‐PIL‐based fabric also captures signals from mechanical stimuli, humidity, and temperature. This allows the CF‐PIL material to act as a sensor for physiological signal monitoring (breathing, body temperature, and external mechanical stimulation), and also for high‐temperature. Through the design of a circuit, the CF‐PIL‐based fabric is assembled for a high‐temperature fire alarm system, which can provide early warning of high temperatures when near or in contact with flames within a few seconds. While many applications of the CF‐PIL may be envisaged, of particular relevance are intelligent firefighting suits and smart architectural textiles.