Conductive Polymeric Fillers in Polyethylene for the Preparation of Novel Conductive Plastics
Standing
Undergraduate
Type of Proposal
Oral Research Presentation
Faculty
Faculty of Science
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Simon Rondeau-Gagné
Proposal
Polyethylene (PE) has become an essential material in industry, primarily due to its exceptional durability and versatility. These useful properties have sparked further innovations of PE in the hopes of addressing increasingly complex issues. Current limitations on PE include an inability to transport charge in any capacity, therefore the development electrically conductive plastic blends are of great interests. To address these limitations, the use of conjugated polymers as conductive fillers in thermoplastics has been investigated due to their low cost, synthetic ease and versatility, and excellent electrical properties when doped.
Doping is defined as the controlled addition of impurities to a material in order to increase its conductivity. This method is widely used on inorganic compounds such as silicon to build current electronics and has recently been extended to organic polymers such as poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT). Through the addition of the p-type dopant 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) to a solution of P3HT, the conductivity of conjugated polymers can be increased by several orders of magnitude, which is necessary to maintain charge transport when blending with insulators such as polyethylene. Our design uses doped P3HT and DPP-based polymers blended with linear polyethylene to create a plastic material capable of dissipating charge.
This presentation will cover our strategy for blending and doping conjugated polymers, material characterization, and applications.
Availability
March 29th/March31st: 8:30-11:30, 12:30-2:30, after 4pm; March 30th/April 1st: 8:30-10, after 1
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Conductive Polymeric Fillers in Polyethylene for the Preparation of Novel Conductive Plastics
Polyethylene (PE) has become an essential material in industry, primarily due to its exceptional durability and versatility. These useful properties have sparked further innovations of PE in the hopes of addressing increasingly complex issues. Current limitations on PE include an inability to transport charge in any capacity, therefore the development electrically conductive plastic blends are of great interests. To address these limitations, the use of conjugated polymers as conductive fillers in thermoplastics has been investigated due to their low cost, synthetic ease and versatility, and excellent electrical properties when doped.
Doping is defined as the controlled addition of impurities to a material in order to increase its conductivity. This method is widely used on inorganic compounds such as silicon to build current electronics and has recently been extended to organic polymers such as poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT). Through the addition of the p-type dopant 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) to a solution of P3HT, the conductivity of conjugated polymers can be increased by several orders of magnitude, which is necessary to maintain charge transport when blending with insulators such as polyethylene. Our design uses doped P3HT and DPP-based polymers blended with linear polyethylene to create a plastic material capable of dissipating charge.
This presentation will cover our strategy for blending and doping conjugated polymers, material characterization, and applications.