Repurposing Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) as a Conductivity‐Reducing Additive for Polyethylene‐Based High‐Voltage Insulation
Amir Masoud Pourrahimi, Sarath Kumara, Fabrizio Palmieri, Liyang Yu, Anja Lund, Thomas Hammarström, Per‐Ola Hagstrand, Ivan G. Scheblykin, Davide Fabiani, Xiangdong Xu, Christian Müller
Abstract
Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is found to be a highly effective conductivity-reducing additive for low-density polyethylene (LDPE), which introduces a new application area to the field of conjugated polymers. Additives that reduce the direct-current (DC) electrical conductivity of an insulation material at high electric fields have gained a lot of research interest because they may facilitate the design of more efficient high-voltage direct-current power cables. An ultralow concentration of regio-regular P3HT of 0.0005 wt% is found to reduce the DC conductivity of LDPE threefold, which translates into the highest efficiency reported for any conductivity-reducing additive to date. The here-established approach, i.e., the use of a conjugated polymer as a mere additive, may boost demand in absolute terms beyond the quantities needed for thin-film electronics, which would turn organic semiconductors from a niche product into commodity chemicals.