Electronic Characterization of PEDOT-PSS as a Flexible and Stretchable Organic Metal

In this dissertation Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT-PSS) doped with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was studied using different experimental techniques in order to characterize its electrical transport properties and investigate its stretchability and metallic behavior at room temperature. Van der Pauw method was utilized to carry out electrical conductivity and Hall effect measurements on a uniform film of PEDOT-PSS deposited on a glass substrate. The electrical resistance of the film was measured over a wide temperature range. The electrical resistance versus temperature graph of PEDOT-PSS followed different trends over different temperature ranges. The experimental data were compared to the theoretical predictions of various transport models in order to discover the dominant electronic transport mechanism in PEDOT-PSS for different temperature ranges. Infrared reflectivity of a free standing PEDOT-PSS film was studied over a wide spectral range and the resulting reflectance spectrum was analyzed and compared with that of a traditional metal. PEDOT-PSS thin films were deposited on different flexible and stretchable fabrics and the films were electrically characterized while they were in their unstretched states. The obtained electrical transport measurements were compared to those of PEDOT-PSS film on a glass substrate in order to study the effect of the substrate on the morphology of the conductive polymer film and on its electrical transport properties. The conductive textile samples were stretched to different amounts of uniaxial and biaxial strains and their electrical functionality under tensile strain was investigated