Preparation and properties of highly conducting poly(arylene vinylenes)

Abstract

Highly electroconductive poly(p-phenylene vinylene), PPV, films were successfully prepared by preventing a side reaction in pyrolysis of a soluble precursor polymer. The conductivity of PPV film reached 10 4 S/cm by H 2SO 4 doping because of decreasing sp 3 defects. The number of conjugated units in the new PPV films was estimated to be about 10 3 from the molecular weight dependence of the conductivity. Other poly(arylene vinylenes) were indicated to have shorter conjugation length than PPV. PPV fibers were also prepared from the soluble precursor polymer by a dry-spinning method. The stretched fiber of PPV showed a high conductivity of 2.7×10 4 S/cm by H 2SO 4 doping and high tensile strength of 200 kg/mm 2 as it was.