Machine-Washable PEDOT:PSS Dyed Silk Yarns for Electronic Textiles
Journal article, 2017

Durable, electrically conducting yarns are a critical component of electronic textiles (e-textiles). Here, such yarns with exceptional wear and wash resistance are realized through dyeing silk from the silkworm Bombyx mori with the conjugated polymer:polyelectrolyte complex PEDOT:PSS. A high Young's modulus of approximately 2 GPa combined with a robust and scalable dyeing process results in up to 40 m long yarns that maintain their bulk electrical conductivity of approximately 14 S cm(-1) when experiencing repeated bending stress as well as mechanical wear during sewing. Moreover, a high degree of ambient stability is paired with the ability to withstand both machine washing and dry cleaning. For the potential use for e-textile applications to be illustrated, an in-plane thermoelectric module that comprises 26 p-type legs is demonstrated by embroidery of dyed silk yarns onto a piece of felted wool fabric.

organic thermoelectrics

wash and wear resistance

silk yarn

electrical conductivity

e-textile

Author

Jason Ryan

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Desalegn Alemu Mengistie

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

R. Gabrielsson

Linköping University

Anja Lund

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Christian Müller

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

1944-8244 (ISSN) 1944-8252 (eISSN)

Vol. 9 10 9045-9050

Subject Categories

Materials Engineering

DOI

10.1021/acsami.7b00530

More information

Latest update

2/28/2018