Our projects
Electrically conductive polymers
| Sample | Resistivity | Conductivity | Sheet Resistance |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Ωcm) | (S/cm) | (Ω/☐) | |
| Sample 1 | 1x106 | 9.8x10-7 | 3.9x1010 |
| Sample 2 | 4700 | 2x10-4 | 1.2x109 |
| Sample 3 | 64 | 0.016 | 5x106 |
| Sample 4 | 2.7 | 0.37 | 6.7x105 |
| Sample 5 | 0.17 | 5.9 | 4.3x104 |
| Sample 6 | 6.6x10-4 | 1500 | 1.6x102 |
The number of applications for electrically conductive polymers is increasing; this is due to the inherent flexibility, robustness and comparative low cost of plastics. However, conductive polymers have a relatively high electrical resistivity and are inappropriate for certain applications. In addition, current techniques are incapable of producing polymers with true metallic electrical properties, and are incapable of producing practical organic/inorganic hybrid devices.
We have been working on an array of technologies to produce polymers with a wide range of electrical conductivities (from insulating to metallic), and to increase their compatibility with inorganic materials to form true organic/inorganic hybrid devices. Our high electrical conductivity samples have true metallic resistivity vs temperature trends while maintaining high flexibility and low thermal conductance.
Superconducting polymers
We aim to produce polymer based superconducting materials that have comparable critical temperature, critical current and critical magnetic field properties to that of conventional inorganic superconductors. In addition, these polymer based superconductors will be highly flexible, have low cost and use less material than superconductors currently being manufactured. This group of polymer based materials also have low thermal conductivity which assists in maintaining the low temperature environments in which superconductors must operate.
Additionally, this group of superconducting materials can be formed as finely divided conductors, or as discreet elements in polymer based microelectronics.
Advantages of organic superconductors:
- Highly flexible
- Low production costs
- Low material requirements
- Low thermal conductivity
- Roll-to-roll production
- Finely divided conductors easily formed
- Micron to submicron line width
We have recently met several of our proof-of-concept benchmarks, demonstrating that this class of materials has the ability to be competitive with their inorganic superconducting counterparts.
