Open AccessEnhancing the Conductivity of the Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)‐Poly(styrenesulfonate) Coating and Its Effect on the Performance of Yarn Actuators
Author(s) -
Escobar-Teran Freddy,
Martinez Jose G.,
Persson Nils-Krister,
Jager Edwin W. H.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced intelligent systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2640-4567
DOI - 10.1002/aisy.201900184
Subject(s) - pedot:pss , materials science , viscose , coating , yarn , actuator , layer (electronics) , conductive polymer , polypyrrole , fabrication , textile , composite material , polymer , conductivity , computer science , polymerization , chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , artificial intelligence
Nonconductive commercial viscose yarns have been coated with a commercial conducting poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)‐poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer providing electrical conductivity which allowed a second coating of the electroactive conducting polymer polypyrrole through electropolymerization to develop textile yarns actuators. To simplify the PEDOT coating process and at the same time make this process more suitable for application in industry, a new coating method is developed and the properties of the PEDOT‐PSS conducting layer is optimized, paying attention on its effect on the actuation performance. The effect of the concentration of an additive such as dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) on actuation, and of PEDOT:PSS layers, is investigated. Results show that on improving this conducting layer, better performance than previously developed yarn‐actuators is obtained, with strains up to 0.6%. This study provides a simple and efficient fabrication method toward soft, textile‐based actuators for wearables and assistive devices with improved features.