Effect of liquid immersion of PEDOT: PSS-coated polyester fabric on surface resistance and wettability

Abstract

Coating of textile fabrics with poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is one of the methods used for obtaining functional or smart applications. In this work, we prepared PEDOT:PSS polymer with certain additives such as polyethylene glycol, methanol (MeOH), and ethylene glycol on polyester fabric substrates by a simple immersion process. Surface resistance was measured and analyzed with analysis of variance to determine the coating parameters at 95% confidence level. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study of the samples were performed. Contact angle and washing fastness measurements were conducted, to observe the wettability and washing fastness of the samples, respectively. Surface resistance values were decreased by a factor of 100, due to conductive enhancers. As the immersion time and temperature condition varies, surface resistance showed no difference, statistically. FTIR analysis supports the idea that the mechanism responsible for the conductivity enhancement is the partial replacement of PSS from PEDOT chain by forming a hydrogen bond with hydroxyl ion (OH) of the conductive enhancers. A SEM images showed that PEDOT:PSS is well distributed to the surface of the fabrics. Contact angle measurements showed morphology change in the samples. The conductivity was reasonably stable after 10 washing cycles. Altogether, an effective simple immersion of coated polyester fabric is presented to achieve functional textiles that offer a broad range of possible applications.

Comfort Evaluation of Wearable Functional Textiles

“…Intelligence or smartness is the third dimension of textile clothing [ 17 ]. The interactive dimension can be fulfilled using traditional production systems such as weaving [ 18 ], knitting [ 19 ], coating [ 20 ], and several other methods. Each construction technique has brought a change in the comfort values and hence its performance might be affected.…”

Washability of E-Textiles: Failure Modes and Influences on Washing Reliability

“…Other sources find that the amount and type of non-conductive components in inks and pastes also impact the washing results. A higher PU content, leading to better adhesion, improves the results for Tadesse et al, as does a higher content of a hydrophobic additive [46,47]. Adding TPU and graphene oxide to PEDOT:PSS enhances not only printability, but washability, for Kye et al; the authors suspect that the elastic TPU matrix hinders penetration of bleaching agents during washing, preventing oxidative damage to the PEDOT:PSS and a subsequent increase in resistance [33].…”

Fabrics and Garments as Sensors: A Research Update

“…In comparison to standard methods for machine washing (e.g., ISO 6330, ISO BS EN 105 C06, ISO 105-C03, AATCC 61-2A, AATCC 132, AATCC 86), these techniques were low-intensity and less representative of normal practice for apparel. Durability to machine washing has been tested following standard methods, international [45,77,93,94,115,116,122,126,127,146] and national [73,76,90,109], as well as nonstandard methods [47,91,162]. Using a device such as a thermal magnetic stirrer [96,138] has merit in terms of the controlled mechanical agitation (i.e., revolutions per minute), the size of the spinning rod, and the temperature.…”