High-purity PVS Enhances Polymer Conductivity by 100 Times

May 29, 2009 18:07 Megumi Yoshizawa, Nikkei Microdevices

Asahi Kasei Finechem Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp, developed polyvinyl sulphonic acid (PVS) that is used as a dopant for conductive polymers.

The company said it developed a method to polymerize high purity PVS, which has been considered as difficult, "for the first time." The new PVS was used as a dopant for polyethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) to realize an electric conductivity as high as 126S/cm.

The conductivity achieved by this method (PEDOT/PVS) is about 100 times higher than the value achieved by a method that uses polystyrene sulphonate (PSS) as a dopant (PEDOT/PSS), according to the company.

In addition, materials produced by the PEDOT/PVS method improved the smoothness of base plates on which the materials were applied, compared with materials produced by the PEDOT/PSS method, when they were applied under the same conditions. Furthermore, the ultraviolet transmittance in the 200 to 300nm range significantly improved because the PEDOT/PVS method is not affected by the absorption caused by aromatic rings in styrene sulfonate acid, according to the company.

Asahi Kasei Finechem plans to apply conductive polymers produced by the PVS method on OLED devices and solar cells. AGFA-Gevaert NV of Belgium and its partners already prototyped a flexible OLED panel using the PEDOT/PSS material as a transparent electrode (See related article).

Meanwhile, Sanyo Electric Co Ltd and its partners as well as Yamanashi University already achieved high conductive properties with the organic thin films developed with PEDOT (See related article 2).

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