Conducting Polymers: Electrical Conductivity

While undoped polymers are insulators, doped conducting polymers have conductivities comparable to conventional metals and semiconductors despite their polymer chain structure. Models for the doping induced insulator-metal transition and the metallic conductivity of conducting polymers are introduced. The electrical charge transport data including DC conductivity, magnetoresistance, thermoelectric power, and microwave and optical dielectric constant of a wide range of conducting polymer materials are reviewed. A summary of the structural order and the density of states at the Fermi level of conducting polymers is also presented. The metallic properties of conducting polymers are a function of the structural order of the polymers.