New 'radical polymer' that conducts charge can boost solar power use

A new research has revealed about the polymer, called PTMA that is about 10 times more electrically conductive than common semi-conducting polymers, which soon will more popularize the use of solar power.

Researchers at Purdue University have established electrically conductive plastics called "radical polymers" that may bring low-cost, transparent solar cells, flexible and lightweight batteries, and ultrathin antistatic coatings for consumer electronics and aircraft.

Researcher Bryan Boudouris said that it's a polymer glass that conducts charge, which seems like a contradiction because glasses are usually insulators and the polymer is easy to manufacture, resembling Plexiglas, an inexpensive transparent plastic found in numerous products, but, unlike Plexiglas it conducts electricity.

Boudouris added that people make billions of tons of plastic every year, but now one could produce that same kind of material at that same scale with electronic properties.

To create the radical polymer, the researchers used a procedure called deprotection, which involves replacing a specific hydrogen atom in the pendant group with an oxygen atom, converting it into a so-called radical group.

The PTMA is in a class of electrically active polymers that could bring inexpensive transparent solar cells; antistatic and antiglare coatings for cellphone displays; antistatic coverings for aircraft to protect against lightning strikes; flexible flash drives; and thermoelectric devices, which generate electricity from heat.

The study is published in the journal Macromolecules.