Resistivity of conductive polymer-coated fabric

Preparation of conductive polymer-coated fabrics was carried out by admicellar polymerization. By this method, a thin layer of conductive polymers (polypyrrole, polyaniline, and polythiophene) was formed on cotton and polyester fabrics by a surfactant template. The effects of monomer concentration, oxidant to monomer ratio, and addition of salt on the resistivity of the resulting fabrics were studied. The results showed that the apparent surface and volume resistivity decreased with an increase in monomer concentration in the range 5-15 mM, but was not strongly dependent on the oxidant to monomer ratio over the range of 1:1 to 2:1. Addition of 0.5M salt was found to reduce the resistivity significantly. The lowest resistivity obtained was with polypyrrole-coated fabric, with resistivity around 106 ohm. SEM micrographs of the treated fabric surface showed a filmlike polymer coating, confirming that the fabrics were successfully coated by admicellar polymerization. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.