Electrical conductivity of homopolymer and copolymers of N-vinylcarbazole

Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVCz) is well known as an electroactive material due to its good photoconductivity, charge-transfer complexes, photoluminescence and electroluminescence properties. The block copolymers of N-vinylcarbazole were prepared and the effects of the relative composition, molar masses, architecture and doping on its electrical behavior were investigated. Controlled free radical polymerization has been carried out using nitroxide-mediated process in order to prepare a series of block copolymers of N-vinylcarbazole. 2,2,6,6-Tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy radical (TEMPO) was used to end-cap “living” homopolymer of p-bromostyrene, which was further used as a macroinitiator to polymerize N-vinylcarbazole and styrene. The copolymers have been doped at room temperature with LiClO4 and the electrical conductivities were measured by two-probe method, which have shown to depend on copolymer’s relative composition and molar masses.