What is the Difference Between Conducting and Non Conducting Polymers

The key difference between conducting and non conducting polymers is that conducting polymers can conduct electricity, whereas non conducting polymers cannot conduct electricity.

Polymers are macromolecules containing a high number of repeating units. These repeating units represent the monomers that were used to make the polymer material. There are covalent chemical bonds between monomers. There are different categories of polymers. Based on their ability to conduct electricity, we can categorize polymers into two types as conducting polymers and non conducting polymers.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Conducting Polymers
3. What are Non Conducting Polymers
4. Conducting vs Non Conducting Polymers in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Conducting vs Non Conducting Polymers

What is a Conducting Polymer?

Conducting polymers or conductive polymers are polymer materials that are capable of conducting electricity through the polymer material. These are also known as intrinsically conducting polymers or ICPs. These materials can have metallic conductivity behaviour or semiconductor behaviour.

Generally, conducting polymers are not thermoplastic or thermoformable materials. They are organic materials similar to most insulating materials. The most important property of these materials is the processability through dispersion. They do not show mechanical properties similar to other polymer materials but are able to offer high electrical conductivity. Moreover, we can fine-tune the electric properties of these materials through methods such as organic synthesis and advanced dispersion techniques.

The major class of conducting polymers include linear backbone polymer blacks and the copolymers of that material. Some examples for some organic conductive polymers include polyfluorenes, polypyrenes, polyazulenes, polyphenylenes, etc.

Conducting vs Non Conducting Polymers in Tabular Form

Figure 01: Some Examples of Conducting Polymers – polyacetylene; polyphenylene vinylene; polypyrrole (X = NH) and polythiophene (X = S); and polyaniline (X = NH) and polyphenylene sulfide (X = S) [ From top left clockwise]

When considering the production of conductive polymer materials, we can prepare them through different methods. The most common method is the oxidative coupling of monocyclic precursors. The two other methods for this production are chemical synthesis and electro-copolymerization.

There can be several factors contributing to the conductivity of conductive polymers. Some of these factors contributing to the conductivity of the polymer material include valance electrons, conjugated systems, delocalized orbitals, etc.

What is a Non Conducting Polymer?

Non conducting polymers or non-conductive polymers are polymers that are electrically insulating materials. These materials are mainly thermoplastic and thermosetting polymer bonding products. These materials are useful for the thermal management of semiconductors and other electronic applications.

We can use non-conducting polymer materials for a complete range of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties, which can be used for temporary mounting or permanent bonding.

What is the Difference Between Conducting and Non Conducting Polymers?

We can categorize polymers into two types as conducting and non conducting polymers according to their conductivity properties. Therefore, the key difference between conducting and non conducting polymers is that conducting polymers can conduct electricity, whereas non-conducting polymers cannot conduct electricity. Linear backbone polymer blacks and the copolymers of that material are examples of conducting polymers, whereas stimuli-responsive block copolymers are examples of non conducting polymers.

The following figure presents the difference between conducting and non conducting polymers in tabular form.

Summary – Conducting vs Non Conducting Polymers

Conducting polymers or conductive polymers are polymer materials that are capable of conducting electricity through the polymer material. Non conducting polymer or non-conductive polymers are polymer materials that are electrically insulating materials. Therefore, the key difference between conducting and non conducting polymers is that conducting polymers can conduct electricity, whereas non-conducting polymers cannot conduct electricity.

Reference:

1. “Non-conductive polymers for electronics and optoelectronics?“ Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 15 March 2020.
2. “Conductive Polymer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 May 2021.