Alan, for your information,some historical yet I think important information,together with some evolutionary stuff IMHO;
Improving Aircraft Safety Through Advances in Conducting Polymer Coatings
As the extended p-systems in conjugated polymers are highly susceptible to chemical or electrochemical oxidation or reduction, these can alter the electrical and optical properties of the polymer and control the level of oxdation and reduction. As these proeprties can be precisely controlled, and reversed if necessary, then the electrical and optical properties can be controlled with a great deal of precision. It is even possible to switch from a conducting state to an insulating state with conducting polymers.
Intrinsically conducting polymers (ICPs) are polymers with extended π-conjugation along the molecular backbone, and their conductivity can be changed by several orders of magnitude from a semiconducting state to a metallic state by doping. Usually p-doping is achieved by partial oxidation of the polymer by a chemical oxidant or an electrochemical method, and causes depopulation of the bonding π orbital (HOMO) with the formation of "holes".1 In addition to applications in organic printable electronics, such as OLEDs and OPVs, ICPs find use in charge dissipating (antistatic) layers, conducting composites, and chemical sensor research. In this section of the catalog ICPs are grouped into major chemical classes proved to be useful in research and engineering. Additional ICP monomers are listed in the Synthetic Tools and Regents section.
"These results provide a better understanding of the crystallization of semiconducting polymers on graphene and should help the design of more efficient graphene based organic devices by control of the crystallinity of the semiconducting film," says David Barbero.
"These results provide a better understanding of the crystallization of semiconducting polymers on graphene and should help the design of more efficient graphene based organic devices by control of the crystallinity of the semiconducting film," says David Barbero.
Breakthrough enables ultra fast transport of electrical charges in polymers
[2016-01-28] A research team at Umeå University has showed, for the first time, that a very efficient vertical charge transport in semiconducting polymers is possible by controlled chain and crystallite orientation. These pioneering results, which enhance charge transport in polymers by more than 1,000 times, have implications for organic opto-electronic devices and were recently published in the journal Advanced Materials.
In what way will these results affect the field of organic electronics?
“We believe these results will impact the fields of polymer solar cells and organic photodiodes, where the charges are transported vertically in the device. Organic-based devices have traditionally been slower and less efficient than inorganic ones (e.g. made of silicon), in part due to the low mobility of organic (plastic) semiconductors. Typically, plastic semiconductors, which are only semi-crystalline, have hole mobilities about 10,000 times lower than doped silicon, which is used in many electronic devices. Now we show it is possible to obtain much higher mobility, and much closer to that of silicon, by controlled vertical chain alignment, and without doping,” says David Barbero
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