Development of an inherently hydrophobic ultra thin conductive coating for high performance plastics

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During this two-year project, the laboratories of Professor Timothy Bender (Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry) and Professor Dwight Seferos (Chemistry) will be working together with SABIC Innovative Plastics (SABIC-IP, Cobourg) to develop a transparent highly-conductive ultra-thin coating for the high performance plastic sheets and films based on the high performance plastics Ultem and Lexan. While there are known conductive thin film coatings, initial investigations have shown that they are not mutually compatible with the high performance Ultem and Lexan sheets and films produced at the Cobourg site. We have determined that the hydrophilic nature of the two component current commercially available brand of coatings known as PEDOT:PSS makes them incompatible with the hydrophobic surface of Ultem and Lexan. It is also known that PEDOT:PSS is not transparent in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum therefore making its (potential) use a balance between conductivity and transparency. Therefore during this project we will develop an alternative to PEDOT:PSS that is inherently compatible with Ultem and Lexan. We will take multiple approaches to engineering this alternative including the development of alternatives to both PEDOT and PSS. Alternatives to PEDOT will focus on increasing conductivity while achieving high transparency in the visible region. Alternatives to PSS will focus on making the coatings inherently hydrophobic while maintaining their stability, shelf life and ease of coating. SABIC-IP Cobourg will simultaneously investigate custom formulations of Ultem and Lexan that can be extruded with favorable surface properties and topologies that enable smooth and uniform coating of the PEDOT:PSS alternatives.