PEDOT-PSS is one of the most commonly used polymer blends for the plastics electronics industry. It's semiconducting properties can be modified by adding zwitterions as dopants, but how the dopant affects the mixture of PEDOT and PSS is not well understood. We used neutron scattering to study how the molecular packing of the polymers changed when zwitterions were introduced. The results suggest adding zwitterion causes the polymer blend to start forming worm-like structures and eventually form a tangled gel of these worm-like micelles as more of the dopant is added. This coincides with significant increase in conductivity of the material which has important potential benefits and our improved understanding may lead to development of even better materials for the plastic electronics industry.
Research paper could lead to better materials for plastic electronics industry
