A novel approach for in situ polymerization of polypyrrole on cotton substrates

The present paper reports a novel approach for in situ polymerization of polypyrrole on cotton fabric using conventional wet processing method, i.e. jigger machine which is primarily used for textile fabric dyeing. The addition of oxidant in the polymerization bath is controlled to obtain regular and linear polypyrrole polymer. Cotton fabrics (100%, plain weave) have been treated with pyrrole monomer at three concentrations and three durations of polymerization under low temperature conditions. The resultant polypyrrole coated cotton (PPy-CT) fabrics are characterized for electrical conductivity, morphology and fine structure. The surface resistivity in the range 15 - 5000 ohm/square is achieved on cotton fabrics. Naphthalene-2- sulfonic acid (NSA) as dopant is also studied to observe its effect on the reduction in surface resistivity and atmospheric ageing. The polymerization duration of 3 h is found to be optimum. The conductivity as well as atmospheric stability of NSA-doped PPy-CT fabrics is improved as compared to only Cl- ion dopants