Claims
- 1. An electrically conductive composition which comprises:a plurality of cross-linked polymeric complexes; each polymeric complex comprising: a strand of a π-conjugated polymer; and a strand of a polyelectrolyte, the polyelectrolyte being non-covalently bonded to the it-conjugated polymer and having at least one reactive functional group, the reactive functional group facilitating the cross-linkage between the polymeric complexes when the complexes are heated, the composition resisting swelling when exposed to an aqueous medium.
- 2. The composition of claim 1 wherein the it-conjugated polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyaniline, polypyrrole, polyacetylene and polythiophene.
- 3. The composition of claim 2 wherein the polyelectrolyte is selected from the group consisting of poly(butadiene-co-maleic acid), poly(vinylmethylether-co-maleic acid), poly(acrylic acid), poly(ethylmethacrylate-co-acrylic acid) and poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid).
- 4. The composition of 3 wherein the polyelectrolyte has a backbone and the functional group comprises:at least one unsaturated double bond in the polymer backbone of the polyelectrolyte.
- 5. The composition of claim 4 wherein the functional group comprises at least one pendent group selected from the group consisting of carboxylic acid groups, hydroxy groups, amine groups, amide groups, nitrile groups, aldehyde groups and ketone groups.
- 6. The composition of claim 5 wherein there are at least two functional groups and each functional group reacts with each other or optionally with each other and a functional group from other polymeric complexes or optionally with each other and with the functional groups of other polymeric complexes.
- 7. The composition of claim 6 wherein the polymeric complexes are water-borne or optionally are dispersible in organic solvents.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/218,089, filed on Jul. 13, 2000.
US Referenced Citations (11)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
WO 9500678 |
Jan 1995 |
WO |
WO 9703127 |
Jan 1997 |
WO |
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/218089 |
Jul 2000 |
US |