Polypyrrole microstructure deposited by chemical and electrochemical methods on cotton fabrics

Electrochemically and chemically coated cotton fabrics with polypyrrole are comparatively evaluated and characterized in order to produce the conducting fabrics/textiles. The polypyrrole coated fabric is obtained electrochemically by constant current electrolysis (2 mA cm−2) at room temperature for 4 h. The stability, electrical conductivity and electrochemical behaviour of such composite coating are evaluated by means of SEM, FTIR, TGA, DSC, four-probe conductivity, impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. When compared to chemical method thicker films of polypyrrole with globular microstructure could be obtained by electrochemical technique and the conductivity of the polypyrrole film was also high (1.9 × 10−2 to 3.3 × 10−1 S cm−1). The weight uptake and the electrical conductivity of the coated fabric increase with concentration of pyrrole and time of electrolysis. Many other physico-chemical properties of the polypyrrole films obtained by the two methods were found to be qualitatively similar.