NTC Project: M08-MD07

Carbon Nanotube Based Flexible

Textile Electrodes for
Electroluminescent Devices
Paul Calvert (Project Leader), Qinguo Fan,
Dayalan Kasilingam, University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth
Flexible alternating current powder
electroluminescence (ACPEL) devices were
fabricated using transparent inkjet printed textile
front electrodes. The transparency and sheet
resistivity of the textiles with printed PEDOT: PSS
conducting polymer were tuned by varying the
number of conductive polymer layers printed. The
best textile based ACPEL devices demonstrated
luminance of almost the half that of ACPEL
devices using rigid ITO-glass electrodes. Porous
textile electrodes thus offer a convenient
alternative to ITO-coated glass or polymer for
devices such as displays and solar cells.
PEDOT: PSS ink was inkjet printed onto textile
fabric substrates to serve as the front electrode in
the devices. A phosphor paste was dispensed onto
aluminum foil (rear electrode) to form the light
emitting layer. Epoxy resin was used to
encapsulate the phosphor layer and the two
electrodes, forming the textile based EL device.
The sheet resistivity and light transmittance of
various textile based electrodes were measured and
compared. The EL light emission spectra and
luminance intensity of such textile-based ACPEL
devices were studied and compared with those of
an ACPEL device using ITO glass as the front
electrode. A fine PET mesh screen was selected
for printing substrate as described below. Shown
in Figure 1 (a, b) are a schematic diagram and an
SEM image of the ACPEL device cross-section.
The textile electrode is highly flexible and can be
curved easily. The textile-based device emits light
when an AC voltage at a fixed 400Hz frequency is
applied.
Figure 2 shows the PET mesh fabric before and
after printing with 7 PEDOT: PSS cycles. The
conductivity of fabric, measured by the four point
probe (van der Pauw) method, increases with the
number of printing cycles. The surface resistivity
values change from 805 to 188 /sq as the number
of printing cycles increases from 3 to 14. The
average conductivity of the PEDOT: PSS is
calculated to be approximately 20 S/cm, assuming
that the thickness of the printed PEDOT: PSS film
is 1.0 m determined by the cross-sectional SEM
images of the PEDOT: PSS film. Such a
conductivity value is lower than that of a typical

Fig. 1 a) Schematic and b) image of ACPEL device

ITO electrode (3800 S/cm) and agrees with the
values reported in literature for printed PEDOT:
PSS . As the conductivity goes up, the
transmittance goes down, so that one would expect
the brightest device to have some intermediate
level of PEDOT:PSS coating.

Fig. 2 PET mesh a) before and b) after coating

with PEDOT:PSS
Figure 3 shows EL spectra of textile based ACPEL
devices at an AC voltage of 400V and a fixed
frequency of 400Hz. The intensity at all
wavelengths changes with the number of PEDOT:
PSS cycles printed. The device with 6 printed
cycles of PEDOT: PSS yields the maximal
emission intensity over the entire visible range.
The 6-layers PEDOT: PSS textile electrode has a
transmittance of 23% at 500nm and a surface
resistivity of 523/sq.
The CIE (Commission International de l
Eclairage) co-ordinates fell in blue green region
(x= 0.168, y= 0.375) and emission peak was
located at around 493nm. This blue/green color
depends on the dopant materials and their

National Textile Center Research Briefs: June 2010

NTC Project: M08-MD07

2

Fig. 3 Light intensity vs wavelength of

devices with different numbers of printed
PEDOT:PSS layers.
concentrations in ZnS phosphors. The spectral
bandwidth of full width at half maximum
(FWHM) for the 6-layers device is quite wide
(approximate 85nm).
Our experimental results, figure 4, indicate that the
change in luminance intensity of textile electrode
based ACPEL device as a function of the applied
voltages from 0 to 400 V at a fixed frequency of
400 Hz obeys the following equation:

.
ACPEL devices were also fabricated using ITO
glass (15 /sq or 3800 S/cm) as the front electrode
for comparison with the textile electrode-based
devices. The luminance intensity of the best ITO
glass based EL device was comparable to the
literature values [. The luminance intensities of
textile based ACPEL devices are lower than those
of ITO based ACPEL devices in the entire range of
voltage (Figure 4). For example, the textile based
ACPEL device showed best performance
luminance at a 400 V applied voltage or 44.0cd/m2
in luminance intensity, while the ITO based one
showed 96.0cd/ m2 at the same driving conditions.
The threshold voltage of the textile based ACPEL
devices was ~55 V which was almost the same as
ITO-based ones. The luminance of textile based
ACPEL devices was about half of the ITO based
ACPEL devices in the whole voltage range (55 to
400V).

Fig. 4 Device luminance vs exciting voltage,

compared with rigid device with ITO-glass
electrode.
Because the PEDOT: PSS coating on the fabric
mesh is very thin, the loss of transparency is
largely due to absorption of light reflecting from
the mesh rather than an increase in the diameter of
the fibers and reduction of open area. Thus the
transmitted intensity drops only slowly with
increasing numbers of printing cycles after good
conductivity and coverage is established.
Nonetheless, comparison of the device
performance for 6 and 8 printing cycles shows a
drop in emitted intensity of over 2-fold while the
transmission of the fabric drops by only 10%. This
is apparently due to the fact that the emission
occurs over a wide range of angles while the
transmission measurements are dominated by light
perpendicular to the plane of the fabric. Surface
scattering rather than conductivity may account for
the differences between ITO-glass and textile
based EL devices. This suggests several
approaches for enhancing the performance of these
devices by modifying the fabric geometry,
changing the reflectivity of the fiber surface or
adding directional reflectivity to the surface layer
of the device.
Future Work
A second family of devices is being made and
tested with textile electrodes front and back. The
effect of strain and bending on performance will
be determined. We will explore the effect of
adding carbon nanotubes to the conducting
polymer, hoping to increase conductivity while
retaining transmittance.

National Textile Center Research Briefs: June 2010

NTC Project: M08-MD07

3
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Global Tungsten & Powders
Corp. for providing phosphor powders.
Students and other contributors (all UMassD
except where noted):
Undergraduate: Roger Coughlin, Nevin Goulet
Graduate: Bin Hu, Okan Ala, Prakash Manandhar,
Charles Mire (Wollongong), Anshul Agrawal
Postdoctoral: Dapeng Li
Outside contacts:
Industry [15], EY Technologies, Konarka
Technologies Inc., Global Tungsten & Powders
Corp.
Academic [10] University of Wollongong,
University of Massachusetts Amherst, University
of Massachusetts Lowell
Government: US Army Natick, US Army: ARL
NTC web site address:
http://www.ntcresearch.org/projectapp/?project=M08-MD07

National Textile Center Research Briefs: June 2010