Production of polypyrrole fibres by wet spinning

Soluble, doped polypyrrole containing no substituent on the pyrrole ring has been synthesized by the incorporation of the di-(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate dopant anion, which renders the polymer soluble in various organic solvents. The solutions were amenable to a wet-spinning process that produced continuous doped polypyrrole fibres. The ultimate tensile strength, elastic modulus and elongation at break of the obtained fibres were 25 MPa, 1.5 GPa and 2%, respectively, with an electronic conductivity of ∼3 S/cm. Cyclic voltammetry demonstrated the electroactivity of the polypyrrole fibres. These fibres are likely to be important for electronic textile applications.