Preparation and characterization of conductive fabrics coated uniformly with polypyrrole nanoparticles

We have successfully fabricated a conductive fabric coated densely and uniformly with polypyrrole nanoparticles that were less than 50 nm in size by exposing a fabric immersed in a solution containing an oxidizing agent and a dopant to pyrrole vapor after partially pressing excess solution from the fabric with a nip-roll apparatus. The resistivity and color of the resultant conductive fabric depended on the concentrations of the oxidizing agent and dopant. The resistivity arbitrarily varied from an antistatic level (1010 Ω cm) to a high conductivity level (10 Ω cm), which was attributed to differences in the size, compactness and adhesiveness of the polypyrrole nanoparticles forming the conducting network. High fastness to rubbing of the conductive fabric was maintained even though the electrical conductivity varied, suggesting that the fabric could be used in ultra-clean and ultra-low dust conditions.