Changes in conductivity with repeated fabric extension were investigated to improve the properties of conductive electrode pad material used for electrotherapy when it is subjected to various movement of human body. Highly stretchable and conductive fabrics were prepared by in situ chemical polymerization of polypyrrole on nylon-spandex stretch fabric in aqueous solutions with 0.5 M pyrrole, 1.165 M FeCl 3 , and 0.165 M benzenesulfonic acid at 5°C for 1 h. Performance of prepared stretchable conductive fabric was evaluated in terms of conductivity changes as a function of tensile strain, repeated extension, and current application time. As the degree of extension increased, the conductivity increased and leveled off when the fabric was subjected to 60% extension. The number of fiber contacts in nylon-spandex fabric with electrode increased as the applied extension increased. However, the conductivity of the composite decreased under excessive extension over 60% since the intrinsic elasticity of fabric became gradually reduced. Generally, the fabric conductivity decreased as the number of extension cycles increased. However, the fabric conductivity was well maintained after repeated extension over 30 cycles at 40% extension. In addition, it was found that the effect of charging during the electrotherapy treatment on a current flow through prepared electrode pad was negligible.

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Polypyrrole (PPy) films doped with arylsulfonate dopants were prepared by electrochemical polymerization, to investigate the effects of various dopants on conductivities, thermal stabilities, and morphologies of PPy films. Also, HCl was added to those dopants as a cooperating dopant, to improve conductivity of PPy films. Conductivity of PPy film doped with the mixture of each dopant and HCl was improved. Temperature dependency on conductivity for PPy films doped with various dopants was investigated by heating them from 30 to 300°C. For the film doped with TSA, DBSA, and AQSA, conductivity increased up to 150°C and then rapidly decreased, whereas the conductivity of other films decreased after 200°C as temperature increased up to 300°C. Moreover, the film doped with small size dopant such as TSA and HCl/TSA had an interconnected porous fibrillar-like morphology. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 3659 -3666, 2004

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