SYNTHESIS, STRUCTURE, AND ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES OF DOPED POLYACETYLENE

Polyacetyelene, (CH)//x is the simplest organic polymer. Through chemical doping, the electrical conductivity of films of (CH)//x can be varied over twelve orders of magnitude with properties ranging from insulator ( sigma less than 10** minus **1**0 OMEGA ** minus **1 cm** minus **1) to semiconductor to metal ( sigma greater than 10**3 OMEGA ** minus **1 cm** minus **1). Both donors and acceptors can be used with these flexible, free-standing polycrystalline polymer films (thickness 10** minus **5 cm to 0. 5 cm) to yield n-type or p-type material. In this review the authors summarize some of the more important chemical and physical properties of (CH)//x and its doped derivatives.