Development of Electrically Conductive 'Transparent Plastic' Opens New Chapter in Transparent Electrodes

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have developed a new conductive plastic material with transparency improved by about 10 times compared to existing materials. This new material, made using conductive polymers, is expected to be spotlighted as the next-generation transparent organic electrode.

The research team led by Dr. Yongho Joo at the Functional Composite Materials Research Center of the Composite Materials Technology Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), announced on the 28th that they developed a plastic material possessing both conductivity and transparency through joint research with Purdue University in the United States.

The team synthesized radical polymers that simultaneously have ionic conductivity and electrical conductivity and developed measurement methods to understand the transport phenomena of ion and electron transfer. Through this, they succeeded in synthesizing non-copolymer polymers that eliminate the copolymer structure causing opacity in radical polymers. Subsequently, they formed polymer-ion composites to secure foundational technology in this field.

Through experiments, the research team confirmed that the newly developed polymer has over 96% transparency at a film thickness of 1 μm (micrometer, one-millionth of a meter). In contrast, the transparency of the existing conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS was below 10%.

The research team expects that the newly developed polymer can be utilized as a transparent electrode. Currently, transparent electrodes are used in smartphones, TVs, and various displays. They allow light to pass through while conducting electricity efficiently.

Dr. Yongho Joo of KIST stated, "The development of radical polymers has resolved the structural contradictions of existing conductive polymers and presented a new paradigm for research and development of organic electronic materials." He added, "We hope this will lead to the development of high-performance organic electronic materials that maximize conductivity, flexibility, and transparency, and be applied to various fields such as next-generation energy storage materials, transparent display materials, flexible batteries, and bioelectrochemistry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.