Conductivity electronically conducting polymer

In addition to conventional applications in conducting polymers and electrooptical devices, a number of recent novel applications have emerged. Switching of DNA electron transfer upon single-strand/double-strand hybridization fonns the basis for a new medical biosensor teclmology. Since the number of base pairs of length 20... 

The development of polythiophenes since the early 1980s has been extensive. Processible conducting polymers are available and monomer derivathation has extended the range of electronic and electrochemical properties associated with such materials. Problem areas include the need for improved conductivity by monomer manipulation, involving more extensive research using stmcture—activity relationships, and improved synthetic methods for monomers and polymers alike, which are needed to bring the attractive properties of polythiophenes to fmition on the commercial scale. 

Inherently Conducting Polymers. Conducting polymers are polymers with a pi-electron backbone capable of passing an electrical current. These polymers generally are not sufficiently conductive as neat polymers but require the inclusion of an oxidi2ing or reducing agent (dopant) to render them conductive. 

This article addresses the synthesis, properties, and appHcations of redox dopable electronically conducting polymers and presents an overview of the field, drawing on specific examples to illustrate general concepts. There have been a number of excellent review articles (1—13). Metal particle-filled polymers, where electrical conductivity is the result of percolation of conducting filler particles in an insulating matrix (14) and ionically conducting polymers, where charge-transport is the result of the motion of ions and is thus a problem of mass transport (15), are not discussed. 

Generally speaking, electrically conductive polymers are composed of conjugated polymer chains with TT-electrons delocalized along the backbone. 

Conducting Polymer Blends, Composites, and Colloids. Incorporation of conducting polymers into multicomponent systems allows the preparation of materials that are electroactive and also possess specific properties contributed by the other components. Dispersion of a conducting polymer into an insulating matrix can be accompHshed as either a miscible or phase-separated blend, a heterogeneous composite, or a coUoidaHy dispersed latex. When the conductor is present in sufftcientiy high composition, electron transport is possible. 

J. Janata and M. Josowicz, Nature Materials, 2 (1), (2003) 19-24, Conducting polymers in electronic chemical sensors ... 

Another possible modification of poly(sulfur nitride) that is expected to produce conducting polymers is the replacement of alternating sulfur in the thiazyl chain by an RC unit, i.e., [(R)CNSN]x. This type of polymer would have five r-electrons per four atoms in the repeating unit and, consequently, would have a partially occupied conducting band. The prospect of tuning the electronic properties of this polymer by... 

The science and technology of conducting polymers are inherently interdisciplinary they fall at the intersection of three established disciplines chemistry, physics and engineering hence the name for this volume. These macromolccular materials are synthesized by the methods of organic chemistry. Their electronic structure and electronic properties fall within the domain of condensed matter physics. Efficient processing of conjugated polymer materials into useful forms and the fabrication of electronic and opto-electronic devices require input from engineering i. e. materials science (more specifically, polymer science) and device physics. 

The active layer consists of a polymer having electronic conductive, ionic conductive, and luminescent properties, is blended with an ionic salt [48]. The polymer with the required properties can be realized by a blend of a conjugated and an ionic conductive polymer [481 or by specially designed polymers [71-73],... 

D. Emin, Basic issues of electronic transport in insulating polymers, in Handbook of Conducting Polymers (Ed. T.A. Skoihciiu) Marcel Dekker. New York 1985. 

Conducting Polymers Electronically conducting polymers (such as polypyrrole, polythiophene, and polyaniline) have attracted considerable attention due to their ability to switch reversibly between the positively charged conductive state and a neutral, essentially insulating, form and to incorporate and expel anionic species (from and to the surrounding solution), upon oxidation or reduction ... 

Here we introduce a personal point of view about the interactions between conducting polymers and electrochemistry their synthesis, electrochemical properties, and electrochemical applications. Conducting polymers are new materials that were developed in the late 1970s as intrinsically electronic conductors at the molecular level. Ideal monodimensional chains of poly acetylene, polypyrrole, polythiophene, etc. can be seen in Fig. 1. One of the most fascinating aspects of these polymeric... 

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. 

Later we will describe both oxidation and reduction processes that are in agreement with the electrochemically stimulated conformational relaxation (ESCR) model presented at the end of the chapter. In a neutral state, most of the conducting polymers are an amorphous cross-linked network (Fig. 3). The linear chains between cross-linking points have strong van der Waals intrachain and interchain interactions, giving a compact solid [Fig. 14(a)]. By oxidation of the neutral chains, electrons are extracted from the chains. At the polymer/solution interface, positive radical cations (polarons) accumulate along the polymeric chains. The same density of counter-ions accumulates on the solution side. 

Figure 20. Artificial muscle under work. In reduction (A) electrons are injected into the polymer chains. Positive charges are annihilated. Counter-ions and water molecules are expelled. The polymer shrinks and compaction stress gradients appear at each point of the interface of the two polymers. The free end of the bilayer describes an angular movement toward the left side. (B) Opposite processes and movements occur under oxidation. (Reprinted from T. F. Otero and J. Rodriguez, in Intrinsically Conducting Polymers An Emerging Technology, M. Aldissi, ed., pp. 179-190, Figs. 1,2. Copyright 1993. Reprinted with kind permission of Kluwer Academic Publishers.)...

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