Strain‐Responsive Polyurethane/PEDOT:PSS Elastomeric Composite Fibers with High Electrical Conductivity

Abstract

2957www.MaterialsViews.com wileyonlinelibrary.com response to be measurable in a wide range of applied strain. In practical situations, the applied strains can be as small as less than a few percent or as large as tens to hundreds of percent. Some applications where small strains are important are damage detection, structural characterisation, and fatigue studies in materials, [24][25][26] while applications such as body movement measurement, [ 16,20 ] medical monitoring, [ 18,19,27 ] and sports rehabilitation and injury prevention [ 21,28 ] require large strains sensing. This work reports for the fi rst time, the production of elastomeric composite fi bers with high electrical conductivity that are capable of monitoring wide range of applied strains (up to 260%) and can therefore be useful in applications such as strain gauge sensors in wearable bionics and stretchable electronics. The fi ber wet-spinning approach that we have developed effi ciently exploits the high stretchability of a medical grade elastomeric polyurethane (PU) and the high conductivity of PEDOT:PSS.This work contributes to the relatively unexplored production of conductive and elastomeric composite fi bers. The lack of progress in this fi eld can be attributed to the limited development of elastomeric composite formulations that contain welldispersed conducting fi llers, which are also processable by fi ber wet-spinning methods. In the limited cases where conductive fi llers such as polyaniline, [ 29 ] polythiophene [ 30 ] and carbon nanotubes [ 31 ] were utilized in the wet-spinning of conducting fi ber composites, the observed change in the electrical properties have only been marginal at large deformations. These reports also show that signifi cant amount of fi ller loading is necessary to achieve percolation of conducting networks, which was found to be detrimental to the overall mechanical properties of the composite. The most common alternative approach to produce fi bers with both elastic and conductive properties is by coating the elastomeric fi ber (some reports use yarn or textile) with a thin layer of the conducting material. This approach has been used for conductor/elastomer combinations such as polypyrrole on Tactel/Lycra [ 32 ] and nylon/Lycra [ 21 ] fabrics and PEDOT:PSS on Spandex fabric [ 23 ] to name a few, employing methods such as oxidative chemical polymerization, in situ chemical polymerization, chemical vapor deposition, and dip-coating. However, the conductive coatings produced often have poor adhesion and are less stretchy than the parent elastomer fi ber resulting in poor overall electrical and mechanical performance. [ 21,23,32 ] The surface and mechanical property mismatch between the conductive Strain-Responsive Polyurethane/PEDOT:PSS Elastomeric Composite Fibers with High Electrical ConductivityMohammad Ziabari Seyedin , Joselito M. Razal , * Peter C. Innis , and Gordon G. Wallace * It is a challenge to retain the high stretchability of an elastomer when used in polymer composites. Likewise, the high conductivit...

Flexible and Stretchable Physical Sensor Integrated Platforms for Wearable Human‐Activity Monitoringand Personal Healthcare

“…Meanwhile, the device could be driven by solar cells and detect small and rapid human actions such as the bending of a fi nger. Furthermore, Seyedin et al [ 151 ] developed a method to fabricate homogeneous PEDOT:PSS/PU composite strain-sensor application. These fi ber strain sensors can respond to a wide dynamic range of large strains and offer signifi cant potential for applications in motion sensing, biomedical monitoring, and personal healthcare.…”

Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):GlycosAminoGlycan Aqueous Dispersions: Toward Electrically Conductive Bioactive Materials for Neural Interfaces

“…[1,2] This organic polymer dispersion commonly used in organic electronics is being widely applied in bioelectronics devices in applications as transparent electrodes, a variety of biosensors, organic electrochemical transistors, and more. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] One of the key factors to its wide utilization in this area is the low toxicity presented with several cell types such as endothelial, epithelial, fibroblast, macrophage, and most importantly human neuronal cell lines in vitro. [11,12] Furthermore, the applicability and biocompatibility of devices such as an organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) based on PEDOT:PSS have been shown in vivo in an experimental rat model of epileptiform.…”

Deformable and Transparent Ionic and Electronic Conductors for Soft Energy Devices

“…[215] In the absence of Ag NWs, the PEDOT:PSS and PU fail to sustain high strain and do not recover when the strain is released, resulting in poor stability and high hysteresis. [216] The schematic of the TENG is shown in Figure 17a. It consists of two layers, one layer of PDMS coated with Ag NW/PEDOT:PSS/PU nanocomposite and another layer of poly(ether sulfone) (PES) coated with Ag NW/PEDOT:PSS/ PU nanocomposite.…”