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Towards woven logic from organic electronic fibres

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 357–362 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The use of organic polymers for electronic functions is mainly motivated by the low-end applications, where low cost rather than advanced performance is a driving force. Materials and processing methods must allow for cheap production. Printing of electronics using inkjets1 or classical printing methods has considerable potential to deliver this. Another technology that has been around for millennia is weaving using fibres. Integration of electronic functions within fabrics, with production methods fully compatible with textiles, is therefore of current interest, to enhance performance and extend functions of textiles2. Standard polymer field-effect transistors require well defined insulator thickness and high voltage3, so they have limited suitability for electronic textiles. Here we report a novel approach through the construction of wire electrochemical transistor (WECT) devices, and show that textile monofilaments with 10–100 μm diameters can be coated with continuous thin films of the conducting polythiophene poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), and used to create micro-scale WECTs on single fibres. We also demonstrate inverters and multiplexers for digital logic. This opens an avenue for three-dimensional polymer micro-electronics, where large-scale circuits can be designed and integrated directly into the three-dimensional structure of woven fibres.

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Figure 1: Pictures of planar and cylindrical electrochemical transistors (ECTs).
Figure 2: Electrical characteristics of electrochemical transistors.
Figure 3: Design and construction of logic circuits.
Figure 4: Design and electrical characterization of logic circuits on fibres.

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Acknowledgements

These investigations were financially supported by the Centre of Organic Electronics (COE) at Linköping University, Sweden, financed by the Strategic Research Foundation SSF. We thank W.-Y. Lin for electrical measurements on single WECTs and monofilaments, M. Asplund for discussions and K. Hamedi for graphic design. Textile fibres were kindly donated by Shakespeare, UK, and IFP Research, Mölndal, Sweden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomolecular and Organic Electronics, IFM, Center of Organic Electronics, Linköpings Universitet, S 581 83 Linköping, Sweden

    Mahiar Hamedi & Olle Inganäs

  2. Image Coding, ISY, Center of Organic Electronics, Linköpings Universitet, S 581 83 Linköping, Sweden

    Robert Forchheimer

Authors
  1. Mahiar Hamedi
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Contributions

M.H. carried out experiments. R.F. contributed to development of the logic design. O.I and M.H. wrote the manuscript. M.H., O.I. and R.F contributed to project planning.

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Correspondence to Olle Inganäs.

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A patent application on this technology has been submitted by the authors.

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Supplementary figures 1S and 2S (PDF 414 kb)

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Hamedi, M., Forchheimer, R. & Inganäs, O. Towards woven logic from organic electronic fibres. Nature Mater 6, 357–362 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1884

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