CONDUCTIV

E PLASTIC
Presented by
Nicha Tangha
Elect.Engg
7th sem ,03/273
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
RELEVANT PHYSICS
THE POLYLED
POPERTIES
APPLICATION IN VARIOUS FIELDS
LIMITATION
CONCLUSION
REFERENCE
 INTRODUCTION
Plastics are polymers, that is chains of many identical
molecules (monomers) that are intercoupled. The reason
that most plastics are isolators is that their electrons are
localized. Each electron is firmly fixed, as it were, to its
own atomic nucleus. This means that the electrons,
carriers of the electric current, cannot move freely in the
material. Conductive or semiconductive plastics, were
discovered in Japan in1977. In these, the polymer chains
have conjugated connections i.e. the discrete atoms are
interconnected alternately by a single and a double
chemical bond.
 RELEVANT PHYSICS
Conductive or semi conductive plastics are polymer chains with
conjugated double links. The first PolyLEDs werebased on
polyphenyl-vinyl (PPY). The principle of their conductivity (or,
rather semiconductivity) is best illustrated by the simplest
polymer with a conjugated structure: polyacetylene. See Figure.
The single bond in the conjugated structure is always a
a-bond, whereas the double one consists of a a-bond
and a n-bond, which has a different character. Two
variants of poIyacetylene that differ only in the locations
of the n-bonds are shown in Figure. These variants could
be merged freely. The real structure is a mixture of the
variants in which each is represented equally. This has
an important consequence: in the case of an a-bond, the
electrons forming the bond are bonded to both nuclei
and therefore localized. Normally, this is also the case
with electrons ,forming a n-bond. Because of the
conjugated structure, that is, a mixture , the electrons
are free to move along the entire chain.
This does not mean, of course, that the material
itself, which consists of many monomers,
becomes conductive. This occurs only when
electrons can hop from one chain of polymers
to another. It has been found that this becomes
possible when the chains are in close proximity
of each other. The closer the chains are
together, the more mobile the electrons
become. This is further enhanced by
purification of the material and doping it, that
is, adding charge carriers.
 THE POLYLED
When an electric potential is applied across semi conductive
plastics, they emit light. This forms the basic of PolyLED.
The PolyLED is essentially a much simpler component than a
transistor. Its applications include segment displays such as used
in mobile telephones and background lighting in liquid-crystal
displays.
PolyLEDs operate with low (battery) voltage and are therefore
eminently suitable for use in modern equipment.
 PROPERTIES
Steadily increasing the length of a purified
conducting polymer vastly improves its ability to
conduct electricity, Their study of regioregular
polythiophenes (RRPs) establishes benchmark
properties for these materials that suggest how
to optimize their use for a new generation of
diverse materials, including solar panels,
transistors in radio frequency identification tags,
and light-weight, flexible, organic light-emitting
displays .
Unlike plastics that insulate, or prevent, the flow
of electrical charges, conducting plastics actually
facilitate current through their nanostructure.
Conducting plastics are the subject of intense
research, given that they could offer light-weight,
flexible, energy-saving alternatives for materials
used in solar panels and screen displays. And
because they can be dissolved in solution,
affixed to a variety of templates like silicon and
manufactured on an industrial scale, RRPs are
considered among the most promising
conducting plastics in nanotech research today.
 Mobility of electrons increases exponentially
as the width of a nanofibril increases, Each rope-
like nanofibril actually is a stack of RRP
molecules, so the longer these molecules, the
wider the nanofibril and the faster the electrical
conductivity. In this way, electricity moves
preferably perpendicular through the rows of
naturally aligned nanofibrils.
Charge carriers encounter fewer hurdles when
jumping between wider nanofibrils. So the
nanostructure of our conducting plastic
profoundly enhances its ability to conduct
electricity
 APPLICATION
Electrical application

1. BRUSHLESS MOTOR 2. D.C. MOTOR

3. D.C. TORQUE POTENTIOMETER 4. D.C. TORQUE MOTOR

ELECTRONICS
APPLICATION
Keypads

Phosphorescent rubber
keypads

Rubber keypads
Batteries
In an age of massive portability in electronics,
the need for improved batteries is critical. There
is a tremendous growth in laptop computers,
cellular phones and personal digital assistants
(PDAs). Electronics are being put in every place
therefore, replacing heavier metal components
with lightweight polymers would seem to be
highly desirable.
The electrodes of all common batteries are
made of metals. (Car batteries are lead,
flashlight batteries are nickel/cadmium, and
button cells are lithium.) By replacing these
metals with conductive polymers, the following
advantages have been shown: lower weight,
lower cost, more charge/discharge cycles, lower
toxicity, and improved recyclability.
Light-Emitting Diodes
Conductive polymers have been made into
devices that provide an alternative to
conventional backlit LCD displays. The devices
termed OLEDs(organic light-emitting diodes),
which use conductive polymers, are sandwich-
type structures where the active polymeric film
layer is positioned between a semi-transparent
anode and a back row cathode. The devices
emit uniformly over the entire device. Such
devices are applied in displays for cellular
telephones, camcorders, PDAs, and numerous
industrial devices needing a readout display.
Their present advantages over LCD backlit
displays include lower power, lighter weight,
increased durability (no glass), wider viewing
angle, and increased brightness; their future
advantage of lower cost is also promising.
Microtool
One interesting property of many conductive
polymers is that they swell when they conduct.
This means that conductive polymers can
change electrical signals into mechanical
energy, similar to piezoelectric materials.
However, in contrast to piezoelectric films,
conductive polymeric films work well at low
voltages, thus expanding the areas of
applicability for such devices.
 MEDICAL APPLICATION
Medical applications under evaluation or currently
using conductive thermoplastics include:
1. Bodies for asthma inhalers. Because the proper
dose of asthma medications is critical to relief, any
static "capture" of the fine-particulate drugs can
affect recovery from a spasm.
2. Airway or breathing tubes and structures. A flow of
gases creates triboelectric charges, which must
discharge or decay. A buildup of such charges could
cause an explosion in a high-oxygen atmosphere.
3. Antistatic surfaces, containers, and packaging to
eliminate dust attraction in pharmaceutical
manufacturing.
4.ESD housings to provide Faraday cage
isolation for electronic components in
monitors and diagnostic equipment.
5.EMI housings to shield against interference
from and into electronics.
6.ECG electrodes manufactured from highly
conductive materials. These are x-ray
transparent and can reduce costs
compared with metal components.
7.High-thermal-transfer and microwave-
absorbing materials used in warming fluids
 LIMITATION
Conductive polymers do not conduct electricity at
the same speed as silicon chips. Polymers are,
therefore, limited to those applications where gross
or relatively slow changes occur.

The conductive polymers are still much weaker in

mechanical strength when compared to metals,
although the polymers are better than silicon-based
devices. Also, the polymer materials are softer and
therefore, more likely to be damaged by scratching
and abrasion when compared to metals.
Lastly, polymeric devices are mostly conductive
in only one or two dimensions, whereas metals
are fully conductive in three dimensions; that is,
they are anisotropic conductors. The
dimensionality restriction of the polymers
(anisotropy) is because polymers are linear or,
occasionally, planar structures, and the
delocalized electrons follow the shape of the
polymer network. Designers need to be aware of
this difference in directional conductivity. It can
be a problem but, in some applications, it might
also be an advantage to have a significantly
reduced conductivity in a specific direction. In
fact, anisotropic conductors are used in many
applications in electronics, including inexpensive
digital watches
 CONCLUSION
Surely conductive polymers are exciting developments.
As they become more common, they have become part
of many products with which we are already familiar and
will certainly enable many advances in future products.
Some researchers have embarked on a study of
conductive polymers as a new method for storing
electronic information, perhaps optically. These could be
developed into very fast storage and retrieval devices.
Others see conductive polymers as light-detecting
devices that could be configured into large arrays for
military and commercial applications .
 REFERENCES
De Gaspari, John, “New alternatives In
Conductive Plastics,” Plastics Technology,
November 1997, p. 13-15.
Moore, Samuel K., “Just One Word—
Plastics,” IEEE Spectrum, September
2002, p. 55-59.
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