Robust PEDOT:PSS Wet‐Spun Fibers for Thermoelectric Textiles

Abstract

To realize thermoelectric textiles that can convert body heat to electricity, fibers with excellent mechanical and thermoelectric properties are needed. Although poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is among the most promising organic thermoelectric materials, reports that explore its use for thermoelectric fibers are all but absent. Herein, the mechanical and thermoelectric properties of wet‐spun PEDOT:PSS fibers are reported, and their use in energy‐harvesting textiles is discussed. Wet‐spinning into sulfuric acid results in water‐stable semicrystalline fibers with a Young's modulus of up to 1.9 GPa, an electrical conductivity of 830 S cm−1, and a thermoelectric power factor of 30 μV m−1 K−2. Stretching beyond the yield point as well as repeated tensile deformation and bending leave the electrical properties of these fibers almost unaffected. The mechanical robustness/durability and excellent underwater stability of semicrystalline PEDOT:PSS fibers, combined with a promising thermoelectric performance, opens up their use in practical energy‐harvesting textiles, as illustrated by an embroidered thermoelectric fabric module.

Tailoring the Self‐Healing Properties of Conducting Polymer Films

“…− (Figure 1), also leading to the conformational change of the conjugated PEDOT chains and the reduction of barriers for inter-chain and inter-domain hopping, which would also explain the increase of electrical conductivity (Table 1). [50] Overall, swelling test and XPS analysis indicate that increasing the time of the sulfuric acid post-treatment leads to removal of PSS, with consequent impairment of healing ability.…”

“…Although XPS only provides information about the very top layers of the films (≈1–10 nm), the increase of PEDOT/PSS ratio and the shift of the PSS peak suggests that excess insulating PSS − is significantly replaced by HSO 4 − (Figure 1), also leading to the conformational change of the conjugated PEDOT chains and the reduction of barriers for inter‐chain and inter‐domain hopping, which would also explain the increase of electrical conductivity (Table 1). [ 50 ] Overall, swelling test and XPS analysis indicate that increasing the time of the sulfuric acid post‐treatment leads to removal of PSS, with consequent impairment of healing ability.…”

Strain‐Engineering Induced Anisotropic Crystallite Orientation and Maximized Carrier Mobility for High‐Performance Microfiber‐Based Organic Bioelectronic Devices

“…Microfibers were prepared by the conventional wet‐spinning process which has been well customized in terms of spinning, post‐treatment, rinsing/drying for conducting‐polymer‐based (micro)fibers targeting at textile electronics. [ 30–35 ] In this study, PEDOT:PSS solution was cylindrically coagulated via wet‐spinning in acetone (ACE), followed by the post‐treatment by dipping in sulfuric acid (SA) (see Experimental Section for the details). As shown Figure a, SA‐treated microfibers were fabricated by dipping as‐spun fibers (i.e., ACE‐treated microfibers) into sulfuric acid.…”

Scalable thermoelectric fibers for multifunctional textile-electronics

“…This greatly constrains their widespread adoption in textile based wearable electronics 23 – 25 . Despite intensive research efforts and advances in textile based TE devices utilizing bismuth telluride 26 , carbon nanotube (CNT) 27 , poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) 28 , or polyaniline 29 , fabrics comprised of TE are only at the early stage and far from practical implementation, largely due to unavailability of industrially scalable and cost-effective fabrication techniques. Notably, most wearable TE based textiles are realized by coating regular fibers with TE sheaths 26 , filling TE materials at the interspace of the fabrics 30 or incorporating of other fibers to form yarns 31 , which will inevitable lower space efficiency and fray/wear out with extended mechanical friction and deformation induced by body movement, resulting in unstable and attenuated performance.…”