Conductive Polymer Composition with a Dual Crosslinker System for Capacitors

Abstract

A capacitor with improved electronic properties is described. The capacitor has an anode, a dielectric on said anode and a cathode on the dielectric. The cathode has a conductive polymer defined as —(CR 1 R 2 CR 3 R 4 —) x — wherein at least one of R 1 , R 2 , R 3 or R 4 comprises a group selected from thiophene, pyrrole or aniline with the proviso that none of R 1 , R 2 , R 3 or R 4 contain —SOOH or COOH; a organofunctional silane; and an organic compound with at least two functional groups selected from the group consisting of carboxylic acid and epoxy.

1 - 32 . (canceled) 
     
     
         33 . A conductive polymer dispersion comprising a solvent, a conductive polymer, an organic silane and an organic compound with two or more functional groups selected from the group consisting of epoxy and carboxylic acid. 
     
     
         34 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said conductive polymer is defined as —(CR 1 R 2 CR 3 R 4 —) x — wherein at least one of R 1 , R 2 , R 3  or R 4  comprises a group selected from thiophene, pyrrole or aniline with the proviso that none of R 1 , R 2 , R 3  or R 4  contain —SOOH or COOH. 
     
     
         35 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 34  wherein said conductive polymer is poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene). 
     
     
         36 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  comprising 0.0005-0.1 grams of said organofunctional silane per gram of said conductive polymer dispersion. 
     
     
         37 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  comprising 0.001-0.1 grams of said organic compound per gram of said conductive polymer dispersion. 
     
     
         38 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  further comprising a dopant. 
     
     
         39 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 38  wherein said dopant comprises a polyanion. 
     
     
         40 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 39  wherein said polyanion is polystyrene sulfonic acid. 
     
     
         41 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 38  wherein said dopant is present in an amount of 0.05-0.3 grams per gram of said conductive polymer. 
     
     
         42 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said organic silane is a glycidyl silane defined by the formula: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         wherein R 1  is an alkyl of 1 to 14; and 
         each R 2  is independently an alkyl of 1 to 6 carbons. 
       
     
     
         43 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 42  wherein R 1  is selected from the group consisting of methyl, ethyl and propyl. 
     
     
         44 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 42  wherein said glycidyl silane is: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
     
     
         45 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said organofunctional silane is defined by the formula:
   XR 1 Si(R 3 ) 3-n (R 2 ) n    
 wherein X is an organic functional group selected from amino, epoxy, anhydride, hydroxy, mercapto, sulfonate, carboxylate, phosphonate, halogen, vinyl, methacryloxy, ester and alkyl; 
 R 1  is an aryl or (CH 2 ) m  wherein m can be 0 to 14; 
 R 2  is individually a hydrolysable functional group; 
 R 3  is individually an alkyl functional group of 1-6 carbons; and 
 n is 1 to 3. 
 
     
     
         46 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 45  wherein said hydrolysable functional group is selected from the group selected from alkoxy, acyloxy, halogen and amine. 
     
     
         47 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said organofunctional silane is defined by the formula:
   Y(Si(R 3 ) 3-n (R 2 )O 2    
 wherein Y is any organic moiety that contains reactive or nonreactive functional groups such as alkyl, aryl, sulfide or melamine; 
 R 2  is individually a hydrolysable functional group; 
 R 3  is individually an alkyl functional group of 1-6 carbons; and 
 n is 1 to 3. 
 
     
     
         48 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said organofunctional silane is selected from the group consisting of: 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-aminopropytriethoxysilane, aminopropylsilanetriol, (triethoxysilyl)propylsuccinic anhydride, 3-mercaptoprpyltrimethoxysilane, vinyltrimethoxysilane, 3-metacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, 3-trihydroxysilyl-1-propane sulfonic acid and octyltriethyoxysilane. 
     
     
         49 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said epoxy crosslinking compound comprises at least two epoxy groups. 
     
     
         50 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 49  wherein said epoxy crosslinking compound is defined by the formula: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         wherein the X is an alkyl or substituted alkyl of 0-14 carbons, an aryl or substituted aryl, an ethylene ether or substituted ethylene ether, polyethylene ether or substituted polyethylene ether with 2-20 ethylene ether groups or combinations thereof. 
       
     
     
         51 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 50  wherein said substitute is an epoxy group. 
     
     
         52 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 50  wherein alkyl or substituted alkyl has 0-6 carbons. 
     
     
         53 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 50  wherein said epoxy crosslinking is selected from the group consisting of: ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether, propylene glycol diglycidyl ether, 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether, pentylene glycol diglycidyl ether, hexylene glycol diglycidyl ether, cyclohexane dimethanol diglycidyl ether, resorcinol glycidyl ether, glycerol diglycidyl ether, glycerol polyglycidyl ethers, diglycerol polyglycidyl ethers, trimethylolpropane polyglycidyl ethers, sorbitol diglycidyl ether (Sorbitol-DGE), sorbitol polyglycidyl ethers, polyethylene glycol diglycidyl ether, polypropylene glycol diglycidyl ether, polytetramethylene glycol diglycidyl ether, di(2,3-epoxypropyl) ether, 1,3-butadiene diepoxide, 1,5-hexadiene diepoxide, 1,2,7,8-diepoxyoctane, 1,2,5,6-Diepoxycyclooctane, 4-vinyl cyclohexene diepoxide, bisphenol A diglycidyl ether and an maleimide-epoxy compound. 
     
     
         54 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said epoxy crosslinking compound is a glycidyl ether. 
     
     
         55 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 54  wherein said glycidyl ether is defined by the formula: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
         wherein R 3  is an alkyl or substituted alkyl of 1-14 carbons or an ethylene ether. 
       
     
     
         56 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 55  wherein said R 3  is an alkyl or substituted alkyl of 2-6 carbons. 
     
     
         57 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 55  wherein said R 3  is a polyethylene ether. 
     
     
         58 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 57  wherein said polyethylene ether has 1-220 ethylene ether groups. 
     
     
         59 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 54  wherein said R 3  is an alkyl substituted with a group selected from hydroxy, 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
       and —(CH 2 OH) x CH 2 OH wherein X is 1 to 14. 
     
     
         60 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 54  wherein said glycidyl ether is selected from the group consisting of: 
       
         
           
           
               
               
           
         
       
     
     
         61 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  further wherein comprises an carboxylic acid. 
     
     
         62 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 61  wherein said carboxylic acid is an aromatic acid. 
     
     
         63 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 62  further wherein said aromatic acid is selected from the group consisting of phthalic acid and benzoic acid. 
     
     
         64 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 33  wherein said organic compound is a carboxylic crosslinking compound with two or more carboxylic acid groups. 
     
     
         65 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 64  wherein said carboxylic crosslinking compound is aromatic acid with carboxylic groups. 
     
     
         66 . The conductive polymer dispersion of  claim 65  wherein said carboxylic crosslinking compound is selected from the group consisting of: oxalic acid, malonic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, adipic acid, pimelic acid, suberic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid, dodecanedioic acid, phthalic acids, maleic acid, muconic acid, citric acid, trimesic acid and polyacrylic acid. 
     
     
         67 - 104 . (canceled)