Molecular self-assembly of electrically conductive polymers

Abstract

A molecular self-assembly process based on the alternating deposition of a p-type doped electrically conductive polycationic polymer and a conjugated or nonconjugated polyanion has been developed. In this process, monolayers of electrically conductive polymers are spontaneously adsorbed onto a substrate from dilute solutions and subsequently built-up into multilayer thin films by alternating deposition with a soluble polyanion. In contrast to a deposition process involving the alternate self-assembly of polycations and polyanions, this process is driven by the electrostatic attractions developed between the p-type doped conducting polymer and the polyanion. The net positive charge of the conducting polymer can be systematically adjusted by simply varying its doping level. Thus, with suitable choice of doping agent, doping level and solvent, it is possible to manipulate a wide variety of conducting polymers into exceptionally uniform multilayer thin films with layer thicknesses ranging from a single monolayer to multiple layers.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.