Conductive fabrics have the potential to transform the textile industry with technological innovations that include self-warming clothing, adaptive camouflage, and biomimetics. However, further understanding of the construction and properties of conductive fabric is needed to one day realize the full potential of these applications. In this work, a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) synthetic leather substrate was treated with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and was found to exhibit low sheet resistance and high thermal stability. A study that measured the resistance versus the concentration of conductive material found that percolation was achieved after the addition of only 0.3 wt. % doped PEDOT:PSS. The treated PET was capable of resistive heating, and reached a maximum temperature of 200�C in less than two minutes when a 5 V potential was applied. Additionally, the fabric was soaked in water and resistively heated, self-drying in approximately 8 minutes.

Resistive heating studies of PEDOT:PSS treated fabric

247th National Meeting (2014)

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