Patent ID: 8349131

Claim:
A method for making electrically conducting smart paper and/or wood microfibers, comprising: (a) forming an aqueous pulp of lignocellulose fibers; (b) nanocoating said aqueous pulp of lignocellulose fibers by alternatively electrostatically adsorbing onto the fibers multiple consecutively-applied layers of organized ultra thin and oppositely-charged polyelectrolytes, at least one of said polyelectrolytes being an electrically conductive polymers, or nanoparticles, or carbon nanotubes, or combination thereof, and another of said polyelectrolytes having a charge opposite of said electrically conductive polymer or nanoparticle, thereby making a modified aqueous pulp of electrically conductive multi-layer nanocoated lignocellulose fibers; (c) draining the water out of the modified aqueous pulp to form sheets of electrically conducting wood fibers; (d) drying said formed sheets of electrically conductive multi-layer nanocoated lignocellulose fibers; and (b) processing the dried nanocoated sheets to make a finished paper having enhanced electrical conductivity; wherein said electrically conductive polymer comprises poly(3,4-ethlene-dioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT-PSS) and carbon nanotubes and the finished paper having a greater electrical conductivity than if either PEDOT-PSS and carbon nanotubes were used alone.