Printed Electronics
Conductive Polymer
A conductive polymeris an polymersemiconductor, or anorganic semiconductor. Roughly, there are two classes-- the Charge transfer complexes and the conductive polyacetylenes. The latter include polyacetylene itself as well as polypyrrole, polyaniline,and their derivatives.
Most commercially produced organic polymers are electrical insulators. Conductive organic polymers often have extended delocalized bonds(often composed of aromatic units). At least locally, these create a band structure similar to silicon, but with localized states. When charge carriers (from the addition or removal of electrons) are introduced into the conduction or valence bands (see below) the electrical conductivity increases dramatically. Technically almost all known conductive polymers are semiconductors due to the band structure and low electronic mobility. However, so-called zero band gap conductive polymers may behave like metals. The most notable difference between conductive polymers and inorganic semiconductors is the mobility, which until very recently was dramatically lower in conductive polymers than their inorganic counterparts, though recent advancements in molecular self-assembly are closing that gap.
Delocalization can be accomplished by forming a conjugated backbone of continuous overlapping orbitals. For example, alternating single and double carbon-carbon bonds can form a continuous path of overlapping orbitals. In polyacetylene, but not in most other conductive polymers, this creates degeneracy in the frontier molecular orbitals (the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied orbitals named HOMO and LUMO respectively). This leads to the filled (electron containing) and unfilled bands (valence and conduction bands respectively) resulting in a semiconductor.
However, conductive polymers generally exhibit very low conductivities. In fact, as with inorganic amorphous semiconductors, conduction in such relatively disordered materials is mostly a function of "mobility gaps" with phonon-assisted hopping, polaron-assisted tunnelling, etc. between localized states and not band gaps as in crystalline semiconductors.
In more ordered materials, it is not until an electron is removed from the valence band (p-doping) or added to the conduction band (n-doping, which is far less common) does a conducting polymer become highly conductive. Doping (p or n) generates charge carriers which move in an electric field. Positive charges (holes) and negative charges (electrons) move to opposite electrodes. This movement of charge is what is actually responsible for electrical conductivity in crystalline materials.
In contrast, typically "doping" in the polyacetylene-derived conductive polymers involves actually oxidizing the compound. Conductive organic polymers associated with a protic solvent may also be "self-doped". Melanin is the classic example of both types of doping, being both an oxidized polyacetylene and likewise commonly being hydrated.
Doping
In silicon semiconductors, a few of the silicon atoms are replaced by electron rich (e.g.,phosphorus) or electron-poor (e.g. boron) atoms to create n-type and p-type semiconductors, respectively. In contrast, there are two primary methods of doping a conductive polymer, both through an oxidation-reduction (redox)process. The first method, chemical doping, involves exposing a polymer, such as melanin (typically a thin film), to an oxidant (typically iodine or bromine) or reductant (far less common, but typically involves alkali metals). The second is electrochemical doping in which a polymer-coated, working electrode is suspended in an electrolyte solution in which the polymer is insoluble along with separate counter and reference electrodes. An electric potential difference is created between the electrodes which causes a charge (and the appropriate counter ion from the electrolyte) to enter the polymer in the form of electron addition (n doping) or removal (p doping). Polymers may also be self-doped, e.g., when associated with a protonic solvent such as water or an alcohol.
The reason n doping is so much less common is that Earth's atmosphere is oxygen-rich, which creates an oxidizing environment. An electron-rich n doped polymer will react immediately with elemental oxygen to de-dope (re-oxidize to the neutral state) the polymer. Thus, chemical n doping has to be done in an environment of inert gas (e.g., argon). Electrochemical n doping is far less common in research, because it is much more difficult to exclude oxygen from a solvent in a sealed flask; therefore, although very useful, there are likely to be no commercialized n doped conductive polymers.
Electroluminesence
Electroluminescence and photoconductivity in organic compounds has been known since the early 1950's. However, the very poor conductivity of such materials limited current flow and thus light output. In contrast, the increased current flow through conductive polymers and improvements in their efficiency has led to the rapid development of practical polymer-based light emitting devices (OLEDs) and organic photovoltaic devices.
Properties
The biggest advantage of conductive polymers is their processibility. Conductive polymers are also plastics (which are organic polymers) and therefore can combine the mechanical properties (flexibility, toughness, malleability elasticity,etc.) of plastics with the high electrical conductivities of a doped conjugated polymer.
Physics
In addition to "switching", an increase in conductivity can also be accomplished in a field effect transistor (organic FET or OFET), or by irradiation (originally-demonstrated in the 1960's). Strong coupling can also occur between electrons and phonons (mechanical oscillations such as heat vibrations, particles of sound) since both are constrained to travel along the polymer backbone.
Applications of conducting polymers
Electroluminescence (light emission) in organic compounds has been known since the early 1950's, when Bernanose and coworkers first produced electroluminescence in crystalline thin films of acridine orange and quinacrine. In 1960, researchers at Dow Chemical developed AC-driven electroluminescent cells using doped anthracene. In some cases, similar light emission is observed when a voltage is applied to a thin layer of a conductive organic polymer film. The increased conductivity of modern conductive polymers means enough power can be put through the device at low voltages to generate practical amounts of light. This has led to the development of flat panel displays using OLEDs, solar panels and optical amplifiers.
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Example of how a conductive polymer is applied in printed electronics.