Green preparation of PEDOT-based composites with outstanding electrothermal heating and durable rapid-response sensing performance for smart healthcare textiles

Abstract

Wearable electronics have attracted tremendous interest owing to their potential applications on rehabilitation training treating, and human health monitoring. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)@Cotton/spandex fabric (PEDOT@CSF) was developed for flexible, multifunctional, and smart healthcare textiles via high efficiency and environmentally friendly in situ enzymatic polymerization. PEDOT@CSF shows the good UV resistance, outstanding electrothermal heating, and excellent sensing performance. In detail, surface temperature rapidly reached to 130.6 °C for PEDOT@CSF, when the supply voltage at 10 V. The heater could carry out thermal therapy in any designated body part for patients. Meanwhile, the required temperature could easily be obtained by varying the supplied voltages. The motion of human joints (such as fingers, wrist, and elbow) and respiratory condition were recognize and monitor by PEDOT@CSF that easily attached to clothes and accessories. PEDOT:p-toluenesulfonic acid (PEDOT:TsOH) give the textiles a smart sensing ability with fast response, and excellent durability. Furthermore, electrical resistance of PEDOT@CSF exhibited better stability under heating conditions, long time storage, multiple bending, and washing cycles. In summary, we have developed an environment-friendly and general method and obtained a high-performance multifunctional conductive textile, which provide a new path for the green synthesis and improvement of conductive polymer-based materials and development of flexible thermotherapy.