Electrically conductive compositions and methods for their preparation

Claim 1

An electrically conductive polymer composition, comprising an admixture of: (a) a complex having an electrical conductivity of at least about 10 -6 S/cm, of: (i) a conjugated polymer, having substituted or unsubstituted aniline repeating units and being selected from the group consisting of polyaniline, substituted polyanilines, or copolymers thereof; and (ii) a first protonic acid, the first protonic acid being selected to impart said electrical conductivity to said conjugated polymer; (b) a reaction product having a softening temperature of below about 300° C., of (1) a metal compound MX wherein M is selected from the group consisting of Zn, Cu, Mg, Ba, Al, Ca, Ti, Fe, Zr, Cd, Pb and Sn, and X is selected from the group consisting of oxides, hydroxides, halides, stearates, carbonates, palmitates, octoates, laurates, phenolates, maleates, and octylthioglycolates, and (2) a second protonic acid, which may be the same or different from the first protonic acid, having a structural formula I-II: ##STR2## wherein: "A" is sulfonic acid, selenic acid, phosphonic acid, boric acid or a carboxylic acid group; or hydrogen sulphate, hydrogen selenate or hydrogen phosphate; "n" is an integer in the range of 0-5 inclusive; "m" is an integer in the range of 0-4 inclusive, with the proviso that the sun of n+m is 5; "R 1 " is an alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, alkanoyl, alkylthio, alkylthioalkyl containing 1-20 carbon atoms; or alkylaryl, arylalkyl, alkylsulphinyl, alkoxyalkyl, alkylsulphonyl, alkoxycarbonyl, carboxylic acid, where the alkyl or alkoxy has from 0 to about 20 carbon atoms; or alkyl having from 3-20 carbon atoms substituted with one or more sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, halogen, nitro, cyano, diazo or epoxy moieties; or a substituted or unsubstituted 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 membered alicyclic carbon ring, which ring may include one or more divalent heteroatoms of nitrogen, sulfur, sulfinyl, sulfonyl or oxygen such as thiophenyl, pyrolyl, furanyl, pyridinyl; or a polymeric backbone to which A units are attached; R is the same or different at each occurrence and is an alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, alkanoyl, alkylthio, aryloxy, alkylthioalkyl, alkylaryl, arylalkyl, alkylsulphinyl, alkoxyalkyl, alkylsulphonyl, aryl, arylthio, arylsulphinyl, alkoxycarbonyl, arylsulphonyl, carboxylic acid, halogen, cyano, or alkyl which has been substituted with one or more sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid, halogen, nitro, cyano, diazo or epoxy moieties; or any two R substituents taken together are an alkylene or alkenylene group completing a 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 membered aromatic or alicyclic carbon ring or multiples thereof, which ring or rings may include one or more divalent heteroatoms of nitrogen, sulfur, sulfinyl, sulfonyl or oxygen, with R typically having from 1 to about 20 carbons; said electrically conductive polymer composition being processable and having a pH of 3 to 8.