Molecular engineering of novel low band gap conducting polymers

Abstract

Conducting polymers have infiltrated our day to day life with a wide range of products extending from the most common consumer goods to highly specialized applications in space, aeronautics and electronics. In this article, current efforts to design novel conducting polymers with the desired conduction properties are reviewed. Some recent results on the electronic structure and conduction properties of tailored conducting polymers are discussed. The application of search algorithms in obtaining the optimal solution for a copolymer with minimum band-gap and maximum delocalization has been discussed. Finally, the importance of theoretical study of conducting polymers has been outlined.