Conducting polymers solvent

Conductive Polymers-Solvent Systems Solutions or Dispersions 1-22... 

It is an arduous task to develop thermodynamic models or empirical equations that accurately predict solvent activities in polymer solutions. Even so, since Flory developed the well-known equation of state for polymer solutions, much work has been conducted in this area [50-52]. Consequently, extensive experimental data have been published in the literature by various researchers on different binary polymer-solvent sys-... 

The presence of polymer, solvent, and ionic components in conducting polymers reminds one of the composition of the materials chosen by nature to produce muscles, neurons, and skin in living creatures. We will describe here some devices ready for commercial applications, such as artificial muscles, smart windows, or smart membranes other industrial products such as polymeric batteries or smart mirrors and processes and devices under development, such as biocompatible nervous system interfaces, smart membranes, and electron-ion transducers, all of them based on the electrochemical behavior of electrodes that are three dimensional at the molecular level. During the discussion we will emphasize the analogies between these electrochemical systems and analogous biological systems. Our aim is to introduce an electrochemistry for conducting polymers, and by extension, for any electrodic process where the structure of the electrode is taken into account. 

As electrochemists, our interest is attracted by the electrochemical properties of materials based on conducting polymers. The study of these properties requires putting a dry material inside an electrolyte. Since most of the electrolytes employed are based on a salt that is first dissolved in a solvent, we will refer to liquid electrolytes. At the end of this chapter we... 

Figure47. Chronoamperometric responses to potential steps carried out using a polypyrrole electrode from -2000 to 300 mV vs. SCE for 50 s, in 0.1 M UCI04 solutions of different solvents. (Reprinted from H.-J. Grande, T. F. Otero, and I. Cantero, Conformational relaxation in conducting polymers Effect of the polymer-solvent interactions. 7. Non-Cryst. Sol. 235-237,619, 1998, Figs. 1-3, Copyright 1998. Reproduced with kind permission of Elsevier Science-NL, Sara Burgerhartstraat 25, 1055 KV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.)...

The stoichiometry of the redox reactions of conducting polymers (n and m in reactions 1 and 2) is quite variable. Under the most widely used conditions, polypyrroles and polythiophenes can be reversibly oxidized to a level of one hole per ca. 3 monomer units (i.e., a degree of oxidation, n, of ca. 0.3).7 However, this limit is dictated by the stability of the oxidized film under the conditions employed (Section V). With particularly dry and unreactive solvents, degrees of oxidation of 0.5 can be reversibly attained,37 and for poly-(4,4 -dimethoxybithiophene), a value of n = 1 has been reported.38 Although much fewer data are available for n-doping, it appears to involve similar stoichiometries [i.e., m in Eq. (2) is typically ca. 0.3].34,39"41 Polyanilines can in principle be reversibly p-doped to one... 

The results from EQCM studies on conducting polymer films can be ambiguous because the measured mass change results from a combination of independent ion transport, coupled ion transport (i.e., salt transport), and solvent transport. In addition, changes in the viscoelasticity of the films can cause apparent mass changes. The latter problem can be minimized by checking the frequency response of the EQCM,174 while the various mass transport components can be separated by careful data analysis.175,176... 

As illustrated in the previous sections, the electrochemical properties of conducting polymer films are strongly influenced by polymer-ion interactions. These interactions are in turn influenced by the nature of the solvent and the solvent content of the film. Consequently, the electrochemical behavior of conducting polymer films can be highly solvent dependent. Films can even become electrochemically inactive because of lack of solvation.114,197... 

The existence of materials now included among the conducting polymers has long been known. The first electrochemical syntheses and their characterization as insoluble systems took place well over a century ago. In 1862 Letheby reported the anodic oxidation of aniline in a solution of diluted sulphuric acid, and that the blue-black, shiny powder deposited on a platinum electrode was insoluble in HjO, alcohol, and other organic solvents. Further experiments, including analytical studies, led Goppelsroeder to postulate in 1876 that oligomers were formed by the oxidation of aniline. 

In the field of soluble conducting polymers new data have been published on poly(3-alkylthiophenes " l They show that the solubility of undoped polymers increases with increasing chain length of the substituent in the order n-butyl > ethyl methyl. But, on the other hand, it has turned out that in the doped state the electro-chemically synthesized polymers cannot be dissolved in reasonable concentrations In a very recent paper Feldhues et al. have reported that some poly(3-alkoxythio-phenes) electropolymerized under special experimental conditions are completely soluble in dipolar aprotic solvents in both the undoped and doped states. The molecular weights were determined in the undoped state by a combination of gel-permeation chromatography (GPC), mass spectroscopy and UV/VIS spectroscopy. It was established that the usual chain length of soluble poly(3-methoxthythiophene) consists of six monomer units. 

Meanwhile, the R-R coupling (see Sect. 2.2) has evidently found general acceptance as the main reaction path for the electropolymerization of conducting polymers The ionic character of the coupling species explains why polar additives such as anions or solvents with high permittivity accelerate the rate of polymerization and function as catalysts. Thus, electropolymerization of pyrrole is catalyzed in CHjCN by bromide ions or in aqueous solution by 4,5-dihydro-1,3-benzenedisulfonic acid The electrocatalytic influence of water has been known since the work... 

A considerable decrease in platinum consumption without performance loss was attained when a certain amount (30 to 40% by mass) of the proton-conducting polymer was introduced into the catalytically active layer of the electrode. To this end a mixture of platinized carbon black and a solution of (low-equivalent-weight ionomeric ) Nafion is homogenized by ultrasonic treatment, applied to the diffusion layer, and freed of its solvent by exposure to a temperature of about 100°C. The part of the catalyst s surface area that is in contact with the electrolyte (which in the case of solid electrolytes is always quite small) increases considerably, due to the ionomer present in the active layer. 

Instabilities of doped conductive polymers are largely an environmental problem Some polymers when p-doped to the limit have oxidation potentials high enough to attack the most inert solvents. Most will attack water even at much lower doping levels. 

In the case of Ni(OH)2 and conductive polymer electrodes, solvent and anions intercalate into the electrode at anodic potentials. Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) is a useful technique for monitoring the ingress and egress of solvent and anions in these materials. 

Another example of ion conducting polymer/ion/solvent systems are polyelectrolytes based on ion-exchange polymers, also called ionomers. The ionic conductivity of ion-exchange polymers is usually very low in the dry state, but increases abruptly by orders of magnitude upon addition of a... 

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