Electrochemical synthesis, doping and possibilities of application of polyacetylene

An improved method of electrochemical synthesis and doping of polyacetylene coating aluminium or graphite electrodes is described. The polymerization is initiated by electrochemically generated Ni2+ ions, which efficiently in teract with acetylene molecules in the solution. As calculations at the DFT level have shown, polymerization of acetylene most probably begins during the passage of Ni2+ ions through the solution and is completed after their reduction at the cathode. The influence of electrolyte concentration, curre nt density and time on the mass of the polymer and metal ion content in it, as well as the yield and efficiency of polymerization, was thoroughly inve stigated. Polyacetylene doped primarily by ions in the solution was electro chemically re-doped and used for the construction of secondary lithium batt eries. Doped and re-doped polyacetylene exhibits quite high electrical cond uctivity which, as semi-empirical calculations at the AMI level have indica ted, most probably arises from the presence of ions. These batteries are go od for about twenty charge-discharge cycles, during which their electrical characteristics gradually deteriorate. The batteries most probably age, bec ause the polyacetylene oxidizes by atmospheric oxygen.