Polycarbonate-based conductive film prepared by coating DBSA-doped PEDOT/sorbitol

A series of conductive polycarbonate films (CPCFs) were prepared by spin coating with an ethanol-based coating solution comprised of dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)/sorbitol. The variation of CPCF surface resistivity was then measured as a function of temperature. CPCF surface resistivity decreased as sorbitol content increased, with the minimum values in the temperature range 175–185 °C. Furthermore, the CPCF-1.6 exhibited significantly improved thermal stability with respect to surface resistivity even at 175 °C. FT-IR analysis indicated that, after thermal treatment, hydrogen bonds arising from the hydroxy groups of sorbitol or hydroxypropyl cellulose and carbonyl groups of polycarbonate were established. The combination of surface resistivity data and FT-IR analysis suggests that the introduction of sorbitol accompanied with thermal treatment allows the PEDOT chains to undergo favorable inter-chain interactions leading to charge transfer and physical cross-linkage via hydrogen bonding.