Post-processing treatment of conductive polymers to enhance electrical conductivity

A method for enhancing electrical conductivity of a film which includes at least one conductive polymer. The method includes providing the film comprising the at least one conductive polymer and at least one polymer acid, agitating the film in at least one reagent; and, placing the film on a heated surface. The at least one reagent includes a reagent acid that is stronger than the polymer acid. The conductivity of the treated film is significantly greater than the conductivity of the untreated film.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Some International Constitutional Aspects of the Palestine Case

Cardiac tissue engineering via the use of stem cells is the future for repairing impaired heart function that results from a myocardial infarction. Developing an optimised platform to support the stem cells is vital to realising this, and through utilising new smart materials such as conductive polymers we can provide a multi-pronged approach to supporting and stimulating the stem cells via engineered surface properties, electrical, and electromechanical stimulation. Here we present a fundamental study on the viability of cardiac progenitor cells on conductive polymer surfaces, focusing on the impact of surface properties such as roughness, surface energy, and surface chemistry with variation of the polymer dopant molecules. The conductive polymer materials were shown to provide a viable support for both endothelial and cardiac progenitor cells, while the surface energy and roughness were observed to influence viability for both progenitor cell types. Characterising the interaction between the cardiac progenitor cells and the conductive polymer surface is a critical step towards optimising these materials for cardiac tissue regeneration, and this study will advance the limited knowledge on biomaterial surface interactions with cardiac cells

Corrosion-protective coatings from electrically conducting polymers

In a joint effort between NASA Kennedy and LANL, electrically conductive polymer coatings were developed as corrosion protective coatings for metal surfaces. At NASA Kennedy, the launch environment consist of marine, severe solar, and intermittent high acid and/or elevated temperature conditions. Electrically conductive polymer coatings were developed which impart corrosion resistance to mild steel when exposed to saline and acidic environments. Such coatings also seem to promote corrosion resistance in areas of mild steel where scratches exist in the protective coating. Such coatings appear promising for many commercial applications

Conductive Polymer-Based Membranes

This review focuses on an important theme of conductive polymer domain: preparation and applications of advanced materials with permselective properties, such as conductive polymer-based membranes. The most common groups of conductive polymers, their particularities, their use in membranes preparation together with main specific obtaining methods/techniques and conductive polymer-based membrane applications are presented based on a comprehensive documentary study

Nanostructured Conductive Polymers for Advanced Energy Storage

Conductive polymers combine the attractive properties associated with conventional polymers and unique electronic properties of metals or semiconductors. Recently, nanostructured conductive polymers have aroused considerable research interest owing to their unique properties over their bulk counterparts, such as large surface areas and shortened pathways for charge/mass transport, which make them promising candidates for broad applications in energy conversion and storage, sensors, actuators, and biomedical devices. Numerous synthetic strategies have been developed to obtain various conductive polymer nanostructures, and high-performance devices based on these nanostructured conductive polymers have been realized. This Tutorial review describes the synthesis and characteristics of different conductive polymer nanostructures; presents the representative applications of nanostructured conductive polymers as active electrode materials for electrochemical capacitors and lithium-ion batteries and new perspectives of functional materials for next-generation high-energy batteries, meanwhile discusses the general design rules, advantages, and limitations of nanostructured conductive polymers in the energy storage field; and provides new insights into future directions.University of Texas at Austin3M Non-tenured Faculty awardWelch Foundation F-1861Materials Science and Engineerin

Conductive ink containing thermally exfoliated graphite oxide and method a conductive circuit using the same

A conductive ink containing a conductive polymer, wherein the conductive polymer contains at least one polymer and a modified graphite oxide material, which is a thermally exfoliated graphite oxide with a surface area of from about 300 sq m/g to 2600 sq m/g, and it use in a method for making a conductive circuit

Soft, comfortable polymer dry electrodes for high quality ECG and EEG recording

Conventional gel electrodes are widely used for biopotential measurements, despite important drawbacks such as skin irritation, long set-up time and uncomfortable removal. Recently introduced dry electrodes with rigid metal pins overcome most of these problems; however, their rigidity causes discomfort and pain. This paper presents dry electrodes offering high user comfort, since they are fabricated from EPDM rubber containing various additives for optimum conductivity, flexibility and ease of fabrication. The electrode impedance is measured on phantoms and human skin. After optimization of the polymer composition, the skin-electrode impedance is only similar to 10 times larger than that of gel electrodes. Therefore, these electrodes are directly capable of recording strong biopotential signals such as ECG while for low-amplitude signals such as EEG, the electrodes need to be coupled with an active circuit. EEG recordings using active polymer electrodes connected to a clinical EEG system show very promising results: alpha waves can be clearly observed when subjects close their eyes, and correlation and coherence analyses reveal high similarity between dry and gel electrode signals. Moreover, all subjects reported that our polymer electrodes did not cause discomfort. Hence, the polymer-based dry electrodes are promising alternatives to either rigid dry electrodes or conventional gel electrodes

Hybrid Structure of Stretchable Interconnect for Reliable E-skin Application

This paper presents the methodology for realisation of stretchable interconnects based on hybrid thin film stack of spray-coated conductive polymer PEDOT: PSS and evaporated gold (Au) film. The PEDOT: PSS film, with its properties in electrical conductivity and mechanical softness, serves as a stress release buffer in the layered hybrid structure. With the serpentine-shape design, the stretchable interconnects can accommodate larger deformation in comparison with a straight line. The correlation between interconnects' morphology (i.e. cracks propagation) with their electrical behaviour has been studied through microscope in along with electrical characterisation under external strain. Furthermore, a comparison in failure strain among different serpentine-shaped designs has been studied. Higher level in stretchability of interconnects can be achieved with a larger arc degree in design. The fabricated stretchable interconnects can accommodate significant deformations up to 72% external strain while maintaining electrically conductive