A Facile Solution Engineering of PEDOT:PSS-Coated Conductive Textiles for Wearable Heater Applications

To enable highly conductive electronic textiles (E-textiles), we herein demonstrate a simple solution treatment of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)-coated textiles by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and methanol. The subsequent solution engineering of DMSO and methanol not only enhances crystallization of PEDOT chains but also the contact for PEDOT:PSS to the fibers. Additionally, the methanol dipping effectively removes the insulating PSS part from the conductive PEDOT chains, which contributes to subsequently reduced sheet resistance of less than 3 omega/sq of the conductive textiles. Joule heating property of the highly conductive textiles achieves the maximum temperature with the temperature reaching 133 degrees C at a low applied voltage of 3 V within 20 s, which promises highly conductive E-textiles as multi-functional wearable heater applications.

Automated summary

The solution treatment of PEDOT:PSS-coated textiles with DMSO and methanol enhanced crystallization of PEDOT chains, improved contact with fibers, and effectively removed the insulating PSS part, resulting in highly conductive textiles with reduced sheet resistance. The conductive textiles achieved a maximum temperature of 133 degrees C within 20 seconds at a low applied voltage of 3 V, showing promise for multi-functional wearable heater applications.