Smart windows capable of dynamically controlling light transmission are gaining increasing attention as a means of reducing building energy consumption while improving indoor comfort. However, indium tin oxide (ITO), the most widely used transparent electrode in such devices, suffers from poor mechanical flexibility due to its intrinsic brittleness, limiting its use in curved or flexible window applications. Here, we demonstrate a flexible ITO/DPP hybrid transparent electrode, fabricated by depositing a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-doped PEDOT:PSS (DPP) layer on ITO, that achieves markedly improved bending durability while maintaining electro-optical performance comparable to bare ITO. The hybrid electrode with an optimized DPP thickness of 120 nm exhibited a sheet resistance of 23.3 Ω/sq., about 20% lower than that of ITO (29 Ω/sq.), while maintaining comparable visible-range transmittance. A polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) device fabricated with this electrode showed only a slight decline in driving voltage and transmittance relative to ITO. Notably, its resistance change under repeated bending at a curvature radius of 30 mm was only 25.1%, less than half that of ITO (51.6%). These results suggest that the ITO/DPP hybrid electrode is a promising candidate for transparent electrodes in curved and flexible smart windows and other flexible optoelectronic devices.

Thermoelectric (TE) heating and cooling devices, which are able to directly convert thermal energy into electrical energy and vice versa, are effective and have exhibited a potential for energy harvesting. With the increasing consumer demands for various wearable electronics, organic-based TE composite materials offer a promise for the TE devices applications. Conductive polymers are widely used as flexible TE materials replacing inorganic materials due to their flexibility, low thermal conductivity, mechanical flexibility, ease of processing, and low cost. In this review, we briefly introduce the latest research trends in the flexible TE technology and provide a comprehensive summary of specific conductive polymer-based TE material fabrication technologies. We also summarize the manufacture for high-efficiency TE composites through the complexation of a conductive polymer matrix/inorganic TE filler. We believe that this review will inspire further research to improve the TE performance of conductive polymers.

The power law is very important in gas sensing for the determination of gas concentration. In this study, the resistance of a gas sensor based on poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate＋graphene oxide composite was found to exhibit a power law dependence on hydrogen concentration at 150℃. Experiments were carried out in the gas concentration range of 30~180 ppm at which the sensor showed a sensitivity of 6~9% with a response and recovery time of 30s.

In this paper, we fabricated flexible CNT/PVDF (carbon nanotube / polyvinylidene fluoride) piezoelectric composite device with flexible poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) conducting polymer electrode using spray coating method. We tried to improve the piezoelectric performance from the CNT/PVDF composite film by enhancing electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrodes. Electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrode was enhanced by dipping it into the EG (ethylene glycol) solvent. Changes of chemical composition of the PEDOT:PSS electrode were analyzed with the dipping time by XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) in terms of oxygen (O1s). Finally, Piezoelectric performances such as output voltage and current were measured with the dipping time. We found that enhanced electrical conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS electrodes resulted in improvement of the piezoelectric performance of the CNT/PVDF films.