New processible conducting polymers, and new doping agents provide a wide range of conductive materials and technqiues for potential applications

Highly versatile conductive polymers have been derived from a variety of heteroaromatic polymers. The polyheteroaromatics can be subsituted with diverse substituents to give polymers with widely varied physical and optical properties while maintaining high levels of conductivity. Especially versatile are polymers based on thiophenes. Long-chain alkyl substituents render the rigid polythiophenes solution processible in both the neutral and conductive forms. Further, strong electron donating or electron withdrawing groups can dramatically influence both polymer ionization potential and band gap. Adding a vinyl linkage between heteroaromatic rings further reduces both the band gap and ionization potential of the parent polymer while providing a simplified route to their preparation and fabrication via the sulphonium polyelectrolyte precursor route. Recent discovery of a new class of generally applicable doping agents now provides a wide range of conductive materials and processing technologies to address important application areas.