CONDUCTIVE POLYMER-FILMS BY RETICULATE DOPING WITH MIXED-VALENCE POLYIODIDES - COMPARISON OF 3 METHODS OF PREPARATION

A new class of organic conductors, mixed valence DIPSPHI4 polyiodides, have been used as conductive additives in reticulate doping of polymers. Conductive films have been prepared using three modifications of the reticulate doping technique: a standard one-step method (direct casting), a two-step method consisting of swelling the film containing molecularly dispersed DIPSPHI4 polyiodides, and a recently developed method in which oxidation of molecularly dispersed DIPSPHI4 and simultaneous crystallization of its polyiodides in situ is induced by treatment of the pristine film containing the donor with I2/CH2Cl2 vapours. The first and the third methods have been found to be the most advantageous. Conductive films with additive concentrations as low as 0.5 wt% and conductivities of the order of 10(-3) S cm-1 were obtained. In all three methods, the best results have been obtained when the conductive network consisted of the most conducting DIPSPHI4, 2.281 salt.