Electronic Properties Of Conjugated Polymers

Conjugated polymers have important technological applications including solar cells and light emitting devices. They are active components in many important biological processes. This book describes and explains the electronic and optical properties of conjugated polymers by developing theoretical models to understand the key electronic states.

Conjugated polymers have important technological applications, including solar cells and light emitting devices. They are also active components in many important biological processes. In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of these systems, owing to both improved experimental measurements and the development of advanced computational techniques. The aim of this book is to describe and explain the electronic and optical properties of conjugated polymers. It focuses on the three key roles of electron-electron interactions, electron-nuclear coupling, and disorder in determining the character of the electronic states, and it relates these properties to experimental observations in real systems. A number of important optical and electronic processes in conjugated polymers are also described. The second edition has a more extended discussion of excitons in conjugated polymers. There is also a new chapter on the static and dynamical localization of excitons.

This book deals with electrical, electrochemical, structural, magnetic, optical and lattice dynamical properties of conjugated polymers such as polyaniline, polyacetylene, polydiacetylene, polypyrrole, polyparaphenylene and polythiophene. Several new conjugated systems and model polyenes are also considered. Since the previous winter school on this topic held in 1985, the focus of interest in the field has broadened and now covers not only conductivity and relaxation phenomena of polyacetylene but also nonlinear optical properties, highly oriented and single crystal polymers, and electrochemical and opto-electrochemical properties of special materials. Particular attention is paid in this volume to the possible applications of these systems, for example, in electrochemical cells as electrode materials and in nonlinear optics devices, which now appear to be much more realistic than previously. The detailed contributions are complemented by short reviews of thin film polymers (Langmuir-Blodgett layers), filled polymers, ferromagnetic polymers, superconducting low-dimensional systems (including organic superconductors and high-temperature superconductors) and the application of fractal models to polymers.

This book brings together selected contributions both on the fundamental information on the physics and chemistry of these materials, new physical ideas and decisive experiments. It constitutes both an insightful treatise and a handy reference for specialists and graduate students working in solid state physics and chemistry, material science and related fields.

The International Winter School on Electronic Properties of Polymers Orien tation and Dimensionality of Conjugated Systems, held March 9-16, 1991, in Kirchberg, ('lYrol) Austria, was a sequel to three meetings on similar subjects held there. The 1991 winter school was again organized in cooperation with the "Bundesministerium fUr Wissenschaft und Forschung" in Austria, and with the "Bundesministerium fUr Forschung und Technologie" in the Federal Republic of Germany. The basic idea of the meeting was to provide an opportunity for experienced scientists from universities and industry to discuss their most re cent results and for students and young scientists to become familiar with the present status of research and applications in the field. Like the previous winter schools on polymers, this one concentrated on the electronic structure and potential~ for application of polymers with conjugated double bonds. This time, however, special attention was paid to the effects of orientation and dimensionality. Anisotropy of the electric conductivity in stretch-oriented samples and whether the transport mechanisms are one-, two-, or three-dimensional or might even have a "fractal dimensionality" were there fore central topics. The problem of orientation was extended to systems such as Langmuir-Blodgett films and other layered structures. Accordingly, thin films were the focus of most of the application oriented contributions. Whereas in the previous winter schools discussions on applications dealt with "large volume applications" such as electromagnetic shielding and energy storage, this time "molecular materials for electronics" and prospects of "molecular electronics" were at the center of interest.

Conjugated Polymers for Next-Generation Applications, Volume Two: Energy Storage Devices describes the synthesis and characterization of varied conjugated polymeric materials and their key applications, including active electrode materials for electrochemical capacitors and lithium-ion batteries, along with new ideas of functional materials for next-generation high-energy batteries, a discussion of common design procedures, and the pros and cons of conjugated polymers for certain applications. The book’s emphasis lies in the underlying electronic properties of conjugated polymers, their characterization and analysis, and the evaluation of their effectiveness for utilization in energy and electronics applications. This book is ideal for researchers and practitioners in the area of materials science, chemistry and chemical engineering. Provides an overview of the synthesis and functionalization of conjugated polymers and their composites Reviews important photovoltaics applications of conjugated polymeric materials, including their use in energy storage, batteries and optoelectronic devices Discusses conjugated polymers and their application in electronics for sensing, bioelectronics, memory, and more