The State of Order and The Relevance of Phase Transitions in Conducting Polymers

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Abstract
Highly conducting polymers exhibit a salt like structure in which positive or negative charges are located on the polymer backbone and are counterbalanced by gegenions whose main role is to provide electroneutrality of the system. The electric conductivity is a property of the sublattice build by the charged segments of the polymer. The polymeric salt structure is formed via a redox-reaction from the initially insulating non-polar precursor polymer. The so-called doping of polymers is thus understood as a heterogeneous chemical reaction with simultaneous change of phase. Examples are given from the area of polypyrrole where new systems with layered structures are described; recent results on the crystal structure of poly(acetylene hexafluoroantimonate) and the preparation of highly oriented polyacetylene are reported. Similarly, the structure and redox chemistry of poly(phthalocyaninatosiloxane) is described as an other example for the above mentioned ideas.