Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In this article, plain weave fabrics of polyester were functionalized by means of a polymeric coating synthesized for high conductivity, using the vapor phase polymerization method. The method is considerably more efficient and sustainable than traditional wet methods and has been previously applied to synthesize poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) in yarns and fabrics, using oxidant agents with organic solvents. In this article, aqueous oxidant solutions were used in addition to those based in ethanol, providing textile substrates with high electrical conductance. The effect of the concentration of the oxidant solution on the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the samples was investigated and correlated to their morphology, analyzed by electron microscopy imaging. A strong decrease of the sheet resistivity of the samples with the concentration of oxidant increase was obtained, while the fabrics’ original mechanical tenacity remained unchanged. The sheet resistivity of the samples could be further decreased by a factor of 5 by the application of multiple polymerization layers and was a function of the conjugated polymer content. The effect of washing/drying cycles on the electrical conductance of the samples is presented. The electrical and mechanical characteristics obtained have potential for smart textile applications such as electromagnetic shielding and physiological sensing.

Keywords

coatings polymer formation processing

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Heeger

. Nobel Lecture: Semiconducting and metallic polymers: The fourth generation of polymeric materials. Rev Mod Phys 2001; 73: 681–700.

MacDiarmid

. Nobel Lecture: “Synthetic metals”: A novel role for organic polymers. Rev Mod Phys 2001; 73: 701–712.

Bayer AG. Polythiophenes, process for their preparation and their use. European Patent 339340, 1988.

Rozlosnik

. New directions in medical biosensors employing poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene) derivative-based electrodes. Anal Bioanal Chem 2009; 395: 637–645.

Tsukada

. conductive polymer combined silk fiber bundle for bioelectrical signal recording. PloS ONE 2012; 7(4): 1–10.

Ghasemi-Mobarakeh

Prabhakaran

Morshed

. Application of conductive polymers, scaffolds and electrical stimulation for nerve tissue engineering. J Tissue Eng Regen Med 2011; 5: e17–e35.

Abidian

Daneshvar

Egeland

. Hybrid conducting polymer–hydrogel conduits for axonal growth and neural tissue engineering. Adv Healthcare Mater 2012; 1: 762–767.

Valle

Aradilla

Oliver

. Cellular adhesion and proliferation on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Benefits in the electroactivity of the conducting polymer. Eur Polym J 2007; 43: 2342–2349.

Daoud

Xin

Szeto

. Polyethylenedioxythiophene coatings for humidity, temperature and strain sensing polyamide fibers. Sens Act B 2005; 109: 329–333.

10.

Calvert

Duggal

Patra

. Conducting polymer and conducting composite strain sensors on textiles. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst 2008; 484: 291/[657]–302/[668].

11.

Lang

Rust

Dual

. Towards fully polymeric MEMS: Fabrication and testing of PEDOT/PSS strain gauges. Microelect Eng 2008; 85: 1050–1053.

12.

Lee

Choi

. Fine patterning of glycerol-doped PEDOT:PSS on hydrophobic PVP dielectric with ink jet for source and drain electrode of OTFTs. Org Electron 2010; 11: 854–859.

13.

Colladet

Fourir

Cleij

. Low band gap donor-acceptor conjugated polymers toward organic solar cells applications. Macromolecules 2007; 40: 65–72.

14.

Winther-Jensen

Fraser

Ong

. Conducting polymer composite materials for hydrogen generation. Adv Mater 2010; 22: 1727–1730.

15.

Cherenack K, Van Pieterson L. Smart textiles: Challenges and opportunities. J Appl Phys 112; 2012: 1–14.

16.

Yang

Shang

Tao

. Vapor phase polymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene on flexible substrate and its application on heat generation. Polym Adv Technol 2011; 22: 1049–1055.

17.

Ghosh TK, Dhawan A and Muth JF. Intelligent textiles and clothing. Mattila H (ed.) Formation of electrical circuits in textile structures, chapter 14, Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2006, pp.239–282.

18.

Bhattacharyya

Howden

Borrelli

. Vapor phase oxidative synthesis of conjugated polymers and applications. J Polym Sci Pol Phys 2012; 50: 1329–1351.

19.

Gleason

. Systematic control of the electrical conductivity of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) via oxidative chemical vapor deposition. Macromolecules 2007; 40: 6552–6556.

20.

Knittel

Schollmeyer

. Electrically high-conductive textiles. Synth Met 2009; 159: 1433–1437.

21.

Hong

Kang

. Preparation and properties of electrically conducting textiles by in situ polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). J Appl Polym Sci 2005; 97: 1326–1332.

22.

Kim

Chun

. Characteristics of electrically conducting polymer-coated textiles. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst 2003; 405: 161–169.

23.

Jung

Kwon

. Pet fabric/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) composite with high electrical conductivity for EMI shielding. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst 2007; 464: 109/[691]–117/[699].

24.

Bashir

Skrifvars

Persson

. Production of highly conductive textile viscose yarns by chemical vapor deposition technique: a route to continuous process. Polym Adv Technol 2011; 22: 2214–2221.

25.

Bashir

Skrifvars

Persson

. Synthesis of high performance, conductive PEDOT-coated polyester yarns by OCVD technique. Polym Adv Technol 2012; 23: 611–617.

26.

Corradi

Armes

. Chemical synthesis of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). Synth Met 1997; 84: 453–454.

27.

Trindade IG, Lucas J, Miguel R, et al. Lightweight portable sensors for health care. In: Proceedings of the 12th IEEE international conference on e-health networking applications and services (Healthcom), Lyon, 1–3 July 2010, pp.175–179.

28.

Selvaganesh

Mathiyarasu

Phani

KLN

. Chemical synthesis of PEDOT–Au nanocomposite, nanoscale. Res Lett 2007; 2: 546–549.

29.

Taggart

Yang

Kung

. Enhanced thermoelectric metrics in ultra-long electrodeposited PEDOT nanowires. Nano Lett 2011; 11(1): 125–131.

30.

Natarajan

Moses

. Surface modification of polyester fabric using polyvinyl alcohol in alkaline medium. Indian J Fibre Text 2012; 27: 287–291.

31.

Hurren

Kaynak

Wang

. Effects of laundering on conductivity of polypyrrole-coated textiles. RJTA 2007; 11: 11–17.

Synthesis of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) coating on textiles by the vapor phase polymerization method

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References