The motivation for the study of conductive additives such as conductive polymers and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) stems from their varied use in devices ranging from optoelectronic applications such as solar cells, [1,2] sensors, [3,4] and light-radiating diodes [5] to the commercial manufacturing of conducting and electrochromic textiles [6,7] for the fashion industry and as protective and heated clothing. [8,9] Among many conductive polymers, there is strong interest in the properties of poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) due to its solubility in water and other solvents, its high conductivity, commercial availability, and proven thermal stability when used in combination with cotton fabric. [10][11][12] Further, the versatility of PEDOT:PSS can be enhanced by adding polar solvents such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). [1] Recent work has demonstrated that SWCNTs have good electrical conductivity, good chemical stability, good elastic properties, and possess superior photovoltaic properties to those of indium tin oxide (ITO). [13,14] In another study, a mixture of SWCNT/PEDOT:PSS prepared as a film was also observed to have good electrical and thermal properties. [15,16] Lan et al., designed a thermoelectric fiber generator composed of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) and CNT fibers. They found that the electrical conductivities of the fabric were 18.8 and 871 S cm À1 for the p-type and n-type conductive fabrics, respectively. [17] This study will investigate how using combinations of layers of SWCNTs and PEDOT:PSS influences the electrical properties of cotton fabrics. Fixed amounts of each constituent are dispensed in four ways, namely, as a mixture of both constituents, as one constituent followed by the other, and the reverse, or as SWCNTs followed by PEDOT:PSS followed by SWCNTs. We found that the minimum sheet resistance was achieved for the combination SWCNTs followed by PEDOT:PSS followed by SWCNTs. For this configuration, the morphology, the elemental composition, structural characterization, thermal behavior, and phase identification were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) instrument, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively.
Experimental Section
MaterialsCommercial cotton fabrics were sourced from Medibase (Saudi Arabia) and used as the substrate materials. The aqueous surfactant-free dispersion of PEDOT:PSS (Sigma Aldrich;
