Conductive polymers

1990/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Materialak

Some polymers are able to drive electricity. One of them, poly (sulfur nitride), can replace gold in electronic devices. But this material has problems in its processing. Chemists discover a new way to make poly (sulfur nitride).

Arthur Banister and his colleagues at the British University of Durham have achieved polymer through a dissolution of the compound S5N5+Cl. The tetrasufre tetranitride of poly (sulfur nitride) was previously used as raw material. This compound is explosive and dangerous.

In order for the polymer to generate electricity, it must have a special structure: in its skeleton double or triple links must appear. Electricity is driven through these connections.

In order for the polymer to be a true conductor, electrons must circulate as easily as in metals in their structure. Movement will occur in polymer chains and between chains. In poly(sulfur nitride) electrons circulate by double nitrogen/sulfur bonds and between chains by means of sulfur bridges.

It was first synthesized in 1910 and its metallic appearance was checked. Until 1975 it was considered a chemical curiosity, but that year IBM chemists saw that it was superconducting at 0.27 K. Poly (sulfur nitride) is a real metal, although it does not contain metal atoms in the structure.