The Nature of Charge Carriers in Conjugated Polymers

Both theoretical and experimental evidence suggest that the precise nature of the charge carriers in conjugated polymer systems varies from material to material, and it is still a subject of debate in many cases. A discussion of the various theoretical models for the electronic structure of conjugated polymers is given below, using polyacetylene and poly(paraphenylene) as examples. More detailed information on these materials and the applicability of these theoretical models is given in subsequent sections. 

The material which has received most attention to date is polyacetylene (Section 4.2), as it presents the most simple of these polymers from the point of view of its 

Charge 0, Spin 1/2 Charge +e, Spin 0 Charge -e, Spin 0 

---