Abstract
Over the last several years, many processing technologies for electrically conductive polymers have been developed at Allied-Signal. Techniques to solution process precursor polymers, especially the recent discovery of techniques to stabilize reactive polyelectrolyte precursor polymers, has significantly facilitated solution processing of poly(arylene vinylene) and poly(heteroarylene vinylene) conductive polymers. The preparation of non-ionic precursor polymers now expands processing to non-aqueous systems. Solutions of the conductive forms of these polymers can also be prepared utilizing newly discovered methods for the non-thermal conversion of non-ionic precursor polymers directly to the doped polymers. These processing technologies provide convenient avenues to the incorporation of conductive polymers into important applications, such as EMI shielding, antistatic film coatings, electrostatic dissipative coatings, and sensor applications.