Doping in Conjugated Polymers / Polymer Science and Plastics Engineering (PDF)

An A-to-Z of doping including its definition, its importance,
methods of measurement, advantages and disadvantages, properties
and characteristics--and role in conjugated polymers

The versatility of polymer materials is expanding because of the
introduction of electro-active behavior into the characteristics of
some of them. The most exciting development in this area is related
to the discovery of intrinsically conductive polymers or conjugated
polymers, which include such examples as polyacetylene,
polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene as well as their
derivatives. "Synmet" or "synthetic metal" conjugated polymers,
with their metallic characteristics, including conductivity, are of
special interest to researchers. An area of limitless potential and
application, conjugated polymers have sparked enormous interest,
beginning in 2000 when the Nobel Prize for the discovery and
development of electrically conducting conjugated polymers was
awarded to three scientists: Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid,
and Hideki Shirakawa.

Conjugated polymers have a combination of properties--both
metallic (conductivity) and polymeric; doping gives the conjugated
polymer's semiconducting a wide range of conductivity, from
insulating to low conducting. The doping process is a tested
effective method for producing conducting polymers as
semiconducting material, providing a substitute for inorganic
semiconductors.

Doping in Conjugated Polymers is the first book dedicated
to the subject and offers a comprehensive A-to-Z overview. It
details doping interaction, dopant types, doping techniques, and
the influence of the dopant on applications. It explains how the
performance of doped conjugated polymers is greatly influenced by
the nature of the dopants and their level of distribution within
the polymer, and shows how the electrochemical, mechanical, and
optical properties of the doped conjugated polymers can be tailored
by controlling the size and mobility of the dopants counter
ions.

The book also examines doping at the nanoscale, in particular,
with carbon nanotubes.

Readership

The book will interest a broad range of researchers including
chemists, electrochemists, biochemists, experimental and
theoretical physicists, electronic and electrical engineers,
polymer and materials scientists. It can also be used in both
graduate and upper-level undergraduate courses on conjugated
polymers and polymer technology.