Heat Generation by Polypyrrole Coated Glass Fabric

Vapor deposition technique was employed to coat polypyrrole (PPy) on glass substrate using FeCl3 as oxidant and p-toluenesulfonic acid (？OTs) as doping agent. The Joule heating effect of PPy coated E-glass fabric was studied by supplying various DC electric fields. The coated fabric exhibited reasonable electrical stability, possessed medium electrical conductivity and was effective in heat generation. An increase in temperature of conductive fabric subjected to constant voltage was observed whereas decrease in power consumption was recorded. Thickness of PPy coating on glass fibers was analyzed by Laser confocal microscope and scanning electron microscope. 1. Introduction In the late 1970s, MacDiarmid, Heeger, and Shirakawa discovered how to get polymers conducting electricity [1]. The first material becoming an intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) was polyacetylene, after a doping with iodine. The announcement of this discovery quickly reverberated around scientific communities, and intensity of the research for other conducting polymers magnified dramatically [1–3]. A new generation of polymers was then developed, exhibiting the electrical and optical properties of metals or semiconductors, at the same time retaining the attractive mechanical properties and processing advantages of polymers. Intrinsically, conducting polymers were immediately seen as a new route to mimic metallic conductivity, besides the well-known approach to insert conductive fillers into an inherently insulating resin, or to coat a plastic substrate with a conductive metal solution [4]. Ability to apply conducting polymers to any fiber type and textile structure provides unlimited flexibility in the design of conductive fabrics. Each fiber on the surface of the textile is coated by a thin layer of conducting polymer. As a result of chemical polymerization in the presence of a fabric, a continuous thin film of conducting polymer is formed on the fabric surface. Current will flow through these fabrics without any wiring through them and the heat generated is not affected by holes or cuts in the fabric as the entire surface is electrically conductive. Wide ranging modulation of electrical properties of conducting textiles leads to various other applications. Electrical conductivity is sensitive to external stimuli such as temperature and pressure, suggesting applications in the area of sensors. Kinetics of degradation of conductivity of chemically and electrochemically synthesized polypyrrole at elevated temperatures has been thoroughly investigated. However, only a few brief