Highly Conductive Self-Doped Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Fibers Fabricated by One-Step Wet-Spinning

The fully soluble self-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (S-PEDOT) fibers were fabricated for the first time by one-step wet-spinning at different concentrations (C) and characterized by means of SEM, four-probe method, XRD, and tensile test. It was found that the electrical conductivity of the S-PEDOT fiber wet-spun at C = 1.5 wt% attained as high as 1450 S/cm without the use of secondary dopant and post-treatment, which was higher than that of the cast film (946 S/cm). Furthermore, the S-PEDOT fiber exhibited superior mechanical properties compared to the cast film, where Young’s modulus, tensile strength of the S-PEDOT fiber were 4.0 GPa and 297 MPa, respectively. The results allowed us to conclude that the excellent electrical and mechanical properties of the S-PEDOT fiber were associated with the orientation of S-PEDOT chains along the fiber axis.