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LETTERS
Towards woven logic from organic electronic bres
MAHIAR HAMEDI1, ROBERT FORCHHEIMER2 AND OLLE INGANS1*
1Biomolecular and Organic Electronics, IFM, Center of Organic Electronics, Linkpings Universitet, S 581 83 Linkping, Sweden
2Image Coding, ISY, Center of Organic Electronics, Linkpings Universitet, S 581 83 Linkping, Sweden *e-mail: [email protected]
Published online: 4 April 2007; doi:10.1038/nmat1884
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 bres. 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 eld-eect transistors require well dened 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 monolaments with 10100 m diameters can be coated with continuous thin lms of the conducting polythiophene poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), and used to create micro-scale WECTs on single bres. 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 bres.
The industrial revolution was spun out of textile production and a wealth of knowledge is integrated in this mature production technology. The number of potential applications for multifunctional fabrics or electronic textiles is tremendous2,
and could open new avenues of development in many areas. Even though most of the demonstrated prototypes of functional electronic textiles are today based on the approach of integration of conventional electric components into clothes4,5, true integration
of electronic materials into textiles is a necessary route for the realization of future e-textiles. Some of the advantages of organic electronic materials, and especially conjugated/conducting polymers as compared to their inorganic counterparts, include high elasticity, mechanical exibility and an unlimited number of chemical-synthesis and processing possibilities, which allows for a natural integration of conjugated/conducting polymers into fabrics6,7. These materials are therefore a most promising...