Electroactive Polymers and Macromolecular Electronics

Electrodes can be coated with electrochemically reactive polymers in several microstructural formats called sandwich, array, bilayer, micro-, and ion-gate electrodes. These microstructures can be used to study the transport of electrons and ions through the polymers as a function of the polymer oxidation state, which is essential for understanding the conductivity properties of these new chemical materials. The microstructures also exhibit potentially useful electrical and optical responses, including current rectification, charge storage and amplification, electron-hole pair separation, and gates for ion flow.