Plasma-Assisted Grafting of PPY on Polyester Fabric as Gas Transducer

In this study, we have grafted polypyrrole (PPY) on polyester fabrics by chemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole using ferric chloride (FeCl
₃
) as oxidant and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate as a dopant. Polyester fabric treated with radio frequency oxygen plasma prior to grafting of PPY showed better deposition and adhesion. Characterization of both untreated and plasma-treated conducting fabrics was done using ATR-FTIR, XPS, SEM, contact angle, and sheet resistance measurement. It was found that higher amount of PPY with uniform grafting, better conductivity, and strong interfacial bonding of PPY on the surface of polyester fabric was accomplished by oxygen plasma treatment. Such oxygen plasma pretreated PPY grafted polyester fabrics were then tested for detection of ammonia gas.