Since the early 1990's there have been gradual and significant strides with improvement of the electrical conductivity of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT-PSS).  Here, we report PEDOT-PSS having electrical conductivity in excess of 3,000 S/cm as films on textile, specifically textile made from melt spinning of polyethyleneterphthalate or nylon.  PEDOT-PSS coated textile is prepared from bulk materials by soaking the textile in aqueous PEDOT-PSS colloidal solution followed by a 60-90 minute heat cure.  As a demonstration, we use the PEDOT-PSS textile in a circuit to carry 50 watts either with DC or AC in order to light an incandescent bulb without resistive heating of the PEDOT-PSS textile taking place. We benchmark PEDOT-PSS coated textiles with several metal coated fabrics.  Further, comparisons are made with copper wire as it pertains to the current passed per mass and current passed per cross-sectional area of the conductor.  The percolation threshold occurs at 0.2 wt% of the PEDOT-PSS and the electrical conductivity of the material is stable at 200�C for 10 minutes without degradation. Figure 1: Melt processed polyethyleneterepthalate textile with a coating of PEDOT-PSS (5.7% by weight) that is used in a circuit to replace copper wire carrying 0.42 A at 119V AC to light the incandescent bulb shown within the same circuit.  Voltage and current are displayed on the yellow and grey multi-meters, respectively.

Conductive polymer coated textile as wire replacement

247th National Meeting (2014)

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