Swelling, elasticity and transport properties of conjugated covalent electronic conducting gels : role of network structure.

Abstract

We prepared fully conjugated covalent polymer gels of poly(octylthiophene). They are rubbery, luminescent and electronic conducting. These gels swell in organic solvents both in undoped and doped states. The active network chain segments which give rise both to elastic and swelling properties in undoped state are the linear strands comprised between adjacent cross-links. In swollen doped state, gels remain rubbery. In doped state, variation of conductivity as a function of the swelling ratio Q shows three zones which result from the relative predominance of intra to inter-chain hopping mechanisms.