Design and construction of a flexible conductor based on a complex conductive polymer: PEDOT:PSS/polyaniline and its application as a pressure sensor
Khalid Althagafy, Ebtehaj Alotibi, Mawaheb Al‐Dossari, Fahad Alhashmi Alamer
Abstract
Cotton fibers are the most widely used fiber in the production of textiles and garments. Because of their flexibility and toughness, they are more durable and easier to incorporate into clothing than other inorganic materials. This paper presents flexible, conductive, and functional smart textiles based on a complex of PEDOT:PSS and polyaniline, without using dopants. The interaction between polyaniline and the aqueous PEDOT:PSS solution leads to the formation of a new complex polymer. The polymer exhibits high electrical conductivity because of the interaction between its components, and an increase in the conductivity of the intramolecular backbones of both polyaniline and PEDOT. The effect of complex concentration on the electrical conductivity of electronic textiles is studied using a small fixed amount of PEDOT:PSS and different concentrations of polyaniline. We proved that the sheet resistance of the conductive complex polymer fabric depends on the amount of polyaniline and reaches a minimum value of 0.714 kΩ/□ at a polyaniline concentration of 49.24 wt%. The conductive textiles based on the PEDOT:PSS/polyaniline complex show semiconducting metal behavior in the temperature range from room temperature to 160 °C. These treated textiles perform well as electrical sensors when pressure is applied, causing the electrical resistance to decrease. When the pressure is removed, the resistance returns to its original value.