Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) or PEDOT (or sometimes PEDT) is a conducting polymer based on 3,4-ethylenedioxylthiophene or EDOT monomer. Advantages of this polymer are optical transparency in its conducting state, high stability and moderate band gap and low redox potential. A large disadvantage is poor solubility which is partly circumvented in the PEDOT:PSS composite. (Note: Pedot is a transparent conductor. These conductors are used for LCDs and solar cells, among others.)

In one study PEDOT nanofibers are produced from vanadium pentoxide nanofibers by a nanofiber seeding method. In this procedure EDOT is dissolved in an aqueous solution of camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) and a vanadium pentoxide nanofiber sol-gel and radical cationic polymerization is initiated by addition of ammonium persulfate. The resulting polymer precipitates from solution and has a general composition (PEDOT)(CSA)0.11-(HSO4)0.12(Cl)0.11(H2O)0.19. Washing with dilute hydrochloric acid removes the vanadium compound. The presence of the vanadium pentoxide seeds make the difference between the formation of PEDOT nanofibers (100 to 180 nanometer diameter and one to several micrometres long) and the formation of a more conventional granular morphology. When applied to a solid substrate such as PET, PEDOT non-woven films have slightly less optically transparency and about half the conductance of commercial PEDOT:PSS / PET films.