Conductive PEDOT:PSS-coated poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide thread for highly durable electronic textiles

We demonstrated that poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide (Kevlar) yarn can be made conductive by simply coating the surface with conductive PEDOT:PSS via dip-coating. The lowest surface resistance of PEDOT:PSS-coated Kevlar thread was 11.1 Omega under optimum conditions, which is about a quarter lower than the existing PEDOT:PSS-coated one. Electrical properties of the PEDOT:PSS-coated Kevlar thread did not show significant changes after prolonged exposure to air, repeated bending, and washing. In addition, knitted PEDOT:PSS-coated Kevlar thread was demonstrated as an electronic textile used in circuits supplying power to LED. It is expected that PEDOT:PSS-coated Kevlar thread can be applied to various applications. (C) 2017 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.