Electrochemistry of Electronically Conducting Polymers

By carrying out experiments on the polymerization of acetylene by using a concentrated Ziegler-Natta catalyst solution, Shirakawa and Ikeda were the first to report on the preparation of partially crystalline polyacetylene (PA) films under well-defined conditions [2]. Some six years later, Shirakawa, McDiarmid, and Heeger and colleagues [3] presented unequivocal evidence that, after doping with iodine vapor, the room-temperature electronic conductivity of PA film was 

As intensive studies on the ECPs have been carried out for almost 30 years, a vast knowledge of the methods of preparation and the physico-chemical properties of these materials has accumulated [5-17]. The electrochemistry ofthe ECPs has been systematically and repeatedly reviewed, covering many different and important topics such as electrosynthesis, the elucidation of mechanisms and kinetics of the doping processes in ECPs, the establishment and utilization of structure-property relationships, as well as a great variety of their applications as novel electrochemical systems, and so forth [18-23]. In this chapter, a classification is proposed for electroactive polymers and ion-insertion inorganic hosts, emphasizing the unique feature of ECPs as mixed electronic-ionic conductors. The analysis of thermodynamic and kinetic properties of ECP electrodes presented here is based on a combined consideration of the potential-dependent differential capacitance of the electrode, chemical diffusion coefficients, and the partial conductivities of related electronic and ionic charge carriers. 

Solid Organic and Inorganic Electrochemically Active Materials for Galvanic Cells Operating at Moderate Temperatures 

Solid organic and inorganic redox-active materials can be divided into two major classes 

This classification takes into account the character of the chemical bonds in the related materials, the prevailing type of conductivity, and the ability ofthe compounds to release, reversibly, the electronic and ionic charges stored in the bulk of the electrodes, accompanied by pronounced changes in their electronic and ionic conductivities. 

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Pickup, P. G. Electrochemistry of Electronically Conducting Polymer Films 33... 

The final chapter, by Peter Pickup of Memorial University of Newfoundland, gives a comprehensive account of the major and rapidly developing field of the electrochemistry of electronically conducting polymers and their applications. Following the discovery of these materi-... 

The rapidly developing field of electrochemistry of electronically conducting polymers and their applications. 

This chapter is devoted to the presentation of the new trends in the electrochemistry of electronically conducting polymers (ECPs) that appeared during the past decade. It is divided into three major sections corresponding to the main uses of electrochemistry in the field of conducting polymers electrosynthesis from specially designed monomers (Section 18.2), characterization of polymer films (Section 18.3), and investigation of related materials as modified electrodes for specific applications (Section 18.4). 

ABSTRACT. The new field of the electrochemistry of electronically conducting polymers is reviewed. A brief historical account traces the beginning of organic electrodes to Kallmann and Pope, who, in 1960, observed charge injection and conductance in anthracene electrodes. 

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