FABRICATION OF HIGHLY TRANSPARENT AND CONDUCTIVE PEDOT: PSS THIN FILMS FOR FLEXIBLE ELECTRODE APPLICATIONS

The present work is focused on the development of deposition of transparent conductive polymer films and improving their conductivity. The films were produced using a commercially available PEDOT: PSS (Clevios PH1000) aqueous dispersion. To deposit the PEDOT: PSS an automated programmable spray system was used. This enabled to spray the PEDOT: PSS onto reasonably large heated substrates creating a smooth homogeneous film. The dimensions and thickness of the film can be controlled and size of area of the film is only limited by spraying system dimensions providing a readily up scalable film deposition technique. The sprayed films were produced on a range of polymer (e.g. PET, polycarbonate and dielectric elastomer 3M VHB) or glass substrates. Varying PEDOT: PSS film thicknesses (corresponding to films of various %T values of <95 % to >75 %) were deposited and characterised primarily by UV-vis spectrometry and 4-point resistance measurements. The untreated films showed as expected a relatively poor sheet resistance in comparison to the treated films. However treatment of these films using methanol and formic acid resulted in a huge improvement in sheet resistance values in the range of 3-4 orders of magnitude from the untreated films. This improvement in conductive properties of PEDOT: PSS films and their easily up scalable fabrication by automated spraying enables us to bring them into the realm of an industrial applicable material comparing favourably with other transparent conductors in the market.