Method for making electrically conductive textile materials
First Claim
1. A method for imparting electrical conductivity to a textile material, which comprises:
- (a) contacting the textile material with an aqueous solution of an oxidatively polymerizable pyrrole compound and an oxidizing agent capable of oxidizing said compound to a polymer, said contacting being carried out in the presence of a counter ion or doping agent which imparts electrical conductivity to said polymer when fully formed, said contacting being under conditions at which the pyrrole compound and the oxidizing agent react with each other to form a prepolymer in said aqueous solution;
(b) depositing onto the surface of the textile material the prepolymer of the polymerizable compound; and
(c) allowing the prepolymer to polymerize while deposited on the textile material so as to uniformly and coherently cover the textile material with a conductive film of polymerized compound;
the improvement wherein in step (a) a ferric salt is used as the oxidizing agent and a weak complexing agent for ferric ions is included in the aqueous solution, in an amount sufficient to effectively control the polymerization rate of steps (b) and (c) such that the prepolymer is uniformly and coherently adsorbed onto the surface of the textile material while effectively avoiding undesired formation of polymer in solution.
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Abstract
Fabrics are made electrically conductive by contacting the fiber under agitation conditions with an aqueous solution of a pyrrole compound, an oxidizing agent and a doping agent or counter ion and then depositing onto the surface of individual fibers of the fabric a prepolymer of the pyrrole compound so as to uniformly and coherently cover the fibers with a conductive film of the polymerized pyrrole compound and wherein, furthermore, the oxidizing agent is a ferric salt and the aqueous solution further contains a weak complexing agent for ferric ions to effectively control the reaction rate such that the prepolymer is uniformly and coherently adsorbed onto the surface of the textile material, thereby providing improved films of electrically conductive polymerized compound on the textile material.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for imparting electrical conductivity to a textile material, which comprises:
- (a) contacting the textile material with an aqueous solution of an oxidatively polymerizable pyrrole compound and an oxidizing agent capable of oxidizing said compound to a polymer, said contacting being carried out in the presence of a counter ion or doping agent which imparts electrical conductivity to said polymer when fully formed, said contacting being under conditions at which the pyrrole compound and the oxidizing agent react with each other to form a prepolymer in said aqueous solution;
(b) depositing onto the surface of the textile material the prepolymer of the polymerizable compound; and
(c) allowing the prepolymer to polymerize while deposited on the textile material so as to uniformly and coherently cover the textile material with a conductive film of polymerized compound;
the improvement wherein in step (a) a ferric salt is used as the oxidizing agent and a weak complexing agent for ferric ions is included in the aqueous solution, in an amount sufficient to effectively control the polymerization rate of steps (b) and (c) such that the prepolymer is uniformly and coherently adsorbed onto the surface of the textile material while effectively avoiding undesired formation of polymer in solution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- (a) contacting the textile material with an aqueous solution of an oxidatively polymerizable pyrrole compound and an oxidizing agent capable of oxidizing said compound to a polymer, said contacting being carried out in the presence of a counter ion or doping agent which imparts electrical conductivity to said polymer when fully formed, said contacting being under conditions at which the pyrrole compound and the oxidizing agent react with each other to form a prepolymer in said aqueous solution;
Specification