Colourless, Transparent Conductive Polymer Films with Ultrathin Networks of Organic Crystals

摘要

The possibilities of increasing the transparency of conductive organic polymeric composites obtained by growing crystalline conductive networks in situ are discussed and new methods of preparation of practically colourless conductive polymer films are presented. We show that in most cases the colour which appears during the preparation of a conducting composite by reticulate doping is not directly related to the conducting network, which usually consist of relatively well-formed microcrystals, but results instead from the additive molecules present in the polymer matrix as less organised aggregates or a molecularly dispersed phase. By an appropriate choice of preparation conditions or electrochemically one can get rid of the strongly absorbing part of the complex so that the absorption in the visible range can be substantially reduced without losing conductivity and without deterioration of the conductive network. These phenomena are demonstrated on polycarbonate with fine networks of BEDO-TTF iodine and bromine salts obtained by casting or spin coating in order to obtain thin homogeneous films, e.g. to prepare electrodes for electro-optical investigations. Transparent, colourless conductive films 20-2 μm thick (surface resistivity of the order of 10~3-10~4 Ω/□) have been obtained and the structure of the conductive networks in these materials, their optical properties in the visible and near-infrared range as well as their electrical properties are discussed.