The Marder/Silva  groups  have  been  collaborating  with  Jian  Pei’s group at Peking University on understanding the role of dopant on the electrical and thermal conductivities of n-dopable polymers.

Key findings/achievments include:

•The kinetics of doping play an important role, in addition to the size, shape and strength of dopant (Example: In some cases, a slower dopant that does not dope a polymer in solution, will do so upon heating. Aggregation prior to film casting needs, however, to be prevented.)

•Record conductivities for a n-doped solution processable polymer were realized. The conductivity was correlated with the polymer microstructure. This work has implication for the development of thermoelectric materials that convert thermal gradients direct into electricity.