Conducting Polymers and Composites

Abstract

Conducting polymers (CPs) characteristically form polarons, bipolarons, or sol- itons and exhibit low band-gap energies. These properties make them to be suitable materials for applications in sensors, semiconductors, anticorrosion coatings, batteries, and display devices, among others. This chapter focuses on the electronics, electrochemistry, and processability ofsome commonly used CPs in the recent past – namely, polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), polythiophene (PTh), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), and polyfuran (PFu). Also included in the chapter are conducting dendritic star copolymers and polymeric nanocomposites incorporating single-walled and multiwalled carbon nanotubes.