Since the introduction of Zeigler-Natta catalysts about 60 years ago, the plastics industry has developed tremendously. A lot of attention has been paid especially to conductive polymers, but until recently, commercially viable conductive plastics hadn't come to light, despite the myriad potential uses. The principle concerns with these polymers and of this project are the strength of the material and the conductivity. Past work with polyethylene has shown that the tensile strength of materials can be improved greatly by the physical alignment of polymer strands. This research aims to provide a novel method to synthesize well-oriented polyacetylene in order to analyze the effects of alignment on its conductivity. Several novel synthesis methods have been attempted using both titanium and aluminum compounds as well as powders with the intention of producing both solution-based and solid surface Ziegler-Natta-type catalysts.

Synthesis and conductivity studies of polyacetylene

247th National Meeting (2014)

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