THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW CLASS OF CHEMICALLY STABLE CONDUCTIVE ORGANIC POLYMERS.

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW CLASS OF CHEMICALLY STABLE CONDUCTIVE ORGANIC POLYMERS. THESE WILL BE SINGLE PHASE SYSTEMS WHICH DO NOT REQUIRE THE DISSOLUTION OF EXTERNALLY ADDED "DOPANTS" IN THE POLYMER MATRIX TO IMPART CONDUCTIVITY. INSTEAD, A MOIETY WHICH CAN CREATE FREE CARRIERS IN THE POLYMER CHAIN VIA AN INTERNAL ELECTRON TRANSFER REACTION WILL BE INCORPORATED CHEMICALLY INTO THE POLYMER BACKBONE. THE DENSITY OF FREE CHARGE CARRIERS MAY BE VARIED AND OPTIMIZED BY CHANGING THE CONCENTRATION OF THE REDOX CENTER IN THE CHAIN VIA COPOLYMERIZATION. THE GOAL OF THE PHASE I IS TO PRODUCE COPOLYMER WITH AN INTRINSIC CONDUCTIVITY OF >10 MHO PER CM USING THIS APPROACH AND WITHOUT EXTERNAL DOPANTS. THE CONDUCTIVE BACKBONE WILL CONSIST OF DERIVATIZED POLY-3-METHYLTHIOPHENE, A SYSTEM WHICH SHOWS EXCELLENT STABILITY TOWARD OXYGEN. PHASE II WOULD ENTAIL OPTIMIZZING THE COPOLYMERIZATION STOICHIOMETRY AND PROCESS TO PRODUCE BULK OXYGEN STABLE CONDUCTIVE (<100 MHO -1CM) POLYMERS WHICH ARE MECHANICALLY WORKABLE AND WHICH HAVE UNIFORM ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES.