Dynamic Stability of Organic Conducting Polymers and Its Replication in Electrical Conduction and Degradation Mechanisms

The evolving usefulness of organic conducting polymers, of metallic or semiconducting type, is primarily dependent on their mechanisms of electrical conduction and degradation. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for improving the effi ciency and lifetime of technologies derived from this class of polymers. There is demand for a model that provides a vivid and more precise evaluation of the electrical conduction mechanism in these polymers – especially when they act as hosts to guest species, such as acid dopant ions and nanoparticles. If, for example, the motional behavior of a host–guest organic conducting polymer structure, as related to dynamic stability, is either asynchronous or synchronous, is this refl ected in the mechanism of electrical conduction and does it account for the pace of material’s degradation? Here, we demonstrate that the answer is affi rmative: asynchronous structural motions arising due to loosely bound or free guest species within the host polymer lead to anomalous electrical conduction mechanisms, increased fragility and short lifetime, at odds with the synchronous behavior.