The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 16, 1996
Filed:
Jul. 06, 1994
Michael F Rubner, Westford, MA (US);
Josephine Ho-Wah Cheung, Columbia, MD (US);
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
A thin-film heterostructure bilayer is formed on a substrate by a molecular self-assembly process based on the alternating deposition of a p-type doped electrically conductive polycationic polymer and a conjugated or nonconjugated polyanion or water soluble, non-ionic polymer has been developed. In this process, monolayers of electrically conductive polymers are spontaneously adsorbed onto a substrate from dilute solutions and subsequently built-up into multilayer thin films by alternating deposition with a soluble polyanion or water soluble, non-ionic polymer. In contrast to a deposition process involving the alternate self-assembly of polycations and polyanions, this process is driven by non-covalent bonded attractions (for example, ionic and hydrogen bonds) developed between a p-type doped conducting polymer and a polymer capable of forming strong secondary bonds. The net positive charge of the conducting polymer can be systematically adjusted by simply varying its doping level. Thus, with suitable choice of doping agent, doping level and solvent, it is possible to manipulate a wide variety of conducting polymers into uniform multilayer thin films with layer thicknesses ranging from a single monolayer to multiple layers.