NOVEL LANGMUIR-BLODGETT-FILMS OF CONDUCTING POLYMERS .1. POLYION COMPLEXES AND THEIR MULTILAYER HETEROSTRUCTURES

Novel Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films incorporating conducting polymers have been fabricated from polyion complexes of acid-functionalized polythiophene and sulfonated polyaniline. The multilayer thin films of these new polyion complexes were found to consist of ionically bound layers of conjugated polymer chains isolated between insulating layers of amphiphilic stearylamine molecules. Using this approach, it was also possible to fabricate multilayer heterostructures in which monolayers of two different conjugated polymers were joined together to form an isolated conducting polymer interface. The multilayer thin films were rendered electrically conductive by doping with suitable oxidizing agents (polythiophene case) or protonic acids (polyaniline case). The level of conductivity achieved by doping was found to be sensitive to the composition and organization of the multilayer structure.