Thor Balkhed
Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have developed a stable high-conductivity polymer ink. The advance paves the way for innovative printed electronics with high energy efficiency. The results have been published in
Electrically conducting polymers have made possible the development of flexible and lightweight electronic components such as organic biosensors, solar cells, light-emitting diodes, transistors, and batteries.
The electrical properties of the conducting polymers can be tuned using a method known as doping. In this method, various dopant molecules are added to the polymer to change its properties. Depending on the dopant, the doped polymer can conduct electricity by the motion of either negatively charged electrons (an n-type conductor), or positively charged holes (a p-type conductor). Today, the most commonly used conducting polymer is the p-type conductor PEDOT:PSS [ poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate]. PEDOT:PSS has