A Facile Solution Engineering of PEDOT:PSS-Coated Conductive Textiles for Wearable Heater Applications.

In Su Jin,Jea Uk Lee,Jae Woong Jung

doi:10.3390/polym13060945

Abstract

To enable highly conductive electronic textiles (E-textiles), we herein demonstrate a simple solution treatment of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)-coated textiles by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and methanol. The subsequent solution engineering of DMSO and methanol not only enhances crystallization of PEDOT chains but also the contact for PEDOT:PSS to the fibers. Additionally, the methanol dipping effectively removes the insulating PSS part from the conductive PEDOT chains, which contributes to subsequently reduced sheet resistance of less than 3 Ω/sq of the conductive textiles. Joule heating property of the highly conductive textiles achieves the maximum temperature with the temperature reaching 133 °C at a low applied voltage of 3 V within 20 s, which promises highly conductive E-textiles as multi-functional wearable heater applications.

Highlights

Textiles for Wearable HeaterThere has been growing demand for electronic textiles (E-textiles) that combine clothes and multi-functional electronics [1,2,3]
The optical microscopies of the samples showed that the solution permeated into the textile and each fibrils were coated by PEDOT:PSS (Figure S1 in supplementary material)
We have demonstrated a straightforward way to prepare highly conductive E-textiles based on PEDOT:PSS via simple solvent treatment

Summary

Introduction

Textiles for Wearable HeaterThere has been growing demand for electronic textiles (E-textiles) that combine clothes and multi-functional electronics [1,2,3]. Recent advances in E-textiles have developed numerous materials/engineering technologies for flexible conductors, most of which focus on incorporating conductive materials such as metallic nanomaterials, carbon materials, or thin metal layers in elastomers [15,16,17]. Despite their excellent electrical properties, the metallic nanomaterials have limited degrees of stretchability and flexibility, which hamper practical applications in wearable electronics. (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is one of the most well-established conducting polymers [18,19,20]

Methods

Results

Conclusion