Preparation of New Conductive Plastics from Doped Conjugated Polymer Fillers

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The main objective of the proposed research project is the development of conductive plastics based on polyethylene and conjugated polymers as conductive materials. Through a careful blending of electroactive polymers with polyethylene, highly robust and electrically conductive materials will be prepared, thus opening new opportunity for the preparation of innovative functional polyethylene materials. Moreover, the new conductive polyethylene materials will significantly increase the possibilities for injection and rotational molding of high-performance materials. Considered one of the most used techniques to produce polyethylene products, rotational and injection molding have been constantly sophisticated over the past years. Therefore, the new technology developed through this collaborative project is of great importance for Canada and the industrial partner as functional polyethylene-based components capable of transporting electric charges can lead to prevalent technologies for various business sectors including for consumer goods, electronics, and advanced manufacturing. With a view to achieving this objective, the project will be divided in four aims: 1) Optimization of the doped system through DFT modelling; 2) doping of organic semiconducting polymers (OSCs); 3) blending of the doped OSC with polyethylene and evaluation of the blend morphology, and 4) preparation of conductive plastics. The entire project will be performed at the new research facility at the University of Windsor, hosting state-of-the-art instruments for the characterization of materials and polymers. The information gained from objectives 1 to 4 will be used to develop a general procedure to access different types of conductive plastics and fine-tune their physical and thermomechanical properties. At the end of this research project, the industrial partner will have a new strategy in hand (along with specific know-how) to generate conductive plastics with fine-tunable mechanical, electronic and physical properties. The research project is representing an important part of the development of a new economic sector for materials in Canada and will also allow for the training of highly qualified personnel to move this area forward in the market place.