One promising innovation is the development of smart textiles designed to improve patient comfort and enable continuous health monitoring. Traditional materials like silver-coated yarn have been widely explored for these applications but present challenges such as skin irritation, environmental impact, and toxicity. To address these issues, this study investigates the feasibility of using PEDOT: PSS-coated yarn as a conductive polymer to fabricate textile-based electrodes.

The research focuses on the skin-electrode impedance of these electrodes under varying conditions to evaluate their performance. Key variables include structural designs, cotton content, the number of PEDOT: PSS coating layers, and conditions (wet vs. dry states) with varying pressure levels. The findings reveal that wet conditions consistently result in lower skin-electrode impedance compared to dry conditions. Furthermore, electrodes with lower cotton content and a 1x1 rib structure exhibit superior performance, while increasing the number of PEDOT: PSS layers significantly enhances conductivity in dry conditions.

This study demonstrates that PEDOT: PSS-coated yarn is a viable alternative to traditional conductive materials, offering effective, low-impedance electrodes with reduced environmental and health concerns. These insights cover the way for further development of sustainable and efficient smart textiles for medical applications.