An object of the present invention is to provide a novel sulfur-based positive-electrode active material which can largely improve cyclability of a lithium-ion secondary battery, a positive electrode comprising the positive-electrode active material and a lithium-ion secondary battery comprising the positive electrode. The sulfur-based positive-electrode active material is one comprising: a carbon skeleton derived from a polymer composed of a monomer unit having at least one hetero atom-containing moiety, and sulfur incorporated into the carbon skeleton as the carbon skeleton is formed from the polymer by heat treatment.

A specific method for preparing platinum particles grafted with proton-conducting polymers and use of these particles as catalysts for oxygen reduction.

A method for preparing particles comprising a material suitable for catalysing oxygen reduction or hydrogen oxidation, the particles being grafted by grafts consisting of at least one specific polymer comprising at least one repeating styrene unit bearing at least one proton-conducting group.

Disclosed is a gel material having a high water content and excellent mechanical properties. The gel material includes repeating units derived from the following monomers (A) and (B): (A) an anionic monomer containing a polymerizable carbon-carbon multiple bond and an aromatic ring, and (B) a cationic monomer containing a polymerizable carbon-carbon multiple bond and an aromatic ring. The gel material has a water content of 20% by mass to 95% by mass, a tensile elastic modulus of 9 MPa to 1000 MPa, and a tensile elongation at break of 50% to 5000%.

A conductive polymer dispersion comprising a polythiophene and a polyanion, characterized in that the polyanion is a homo- or copolymer of amonomer unit according to Formula (I), wherein any of R.sub.1 to R.sub.5 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, a halogen, an ether and a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group with the proviso that at least one of R.sub.1 to R.sub.5 is a substituent according to Formula (II), wherein L represents a divalent linking group having less than (20) carbon atoms; n represents 0 or 1; R.sub.6 and R.sub.7 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkenyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkynyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkaryl group and a substituted or unsubstituted aryl or heteroaryl group; any of L, R.sub.6 and R.sub.7 may represent the necessary atoms to form a 5 to 8 membered ring; M represents hydrogen or a counterion to compensate the negative charge of the sulfonate group; the dashed line represents a covalent bond to the phenyl ring of Formula (I).

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Disclosed are fluoropolymers with low CWST values and porous membranes made from the fluoropolymers. The fluoropolymer is made up of polymerized monomeric units of the formula A-XCH.sub.2B, wherein A is C.sub.6F.sub.13(CH.sub.2).sub.2, X is O or S, and B is vinylphenyl, and the fluoropolymer has a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of at least 100 Kd and/or a glass transition temperature of at least 33? C. copolymer. The porous membranes are suitable for degassing a variety of fluids.

The present invention provides a conductive material including: (A) a -conjugated polymer, (B) a dopant polymer which contains one or more repeating units selected from a1 to a4 respectively shown by the following general formula (1) and has a weight-average molecular weight in the range of 1,000 to 500,000, and (C) one or more salts selected from the group consisting of a metal salt of carboxylic acid, a metal salt of -diketone, a metal nitrate, a metal carbonate, a metal bicarbonate, a metal halide, and a metal hydroxide, with the metal being selected from the group consisting of cesium, rubidium, barium, and strontium. There can be provided a conductive material which is neutral and highly suitable for a printer, superior in film-formability, and also can form a conductive film having high transparency and conductivity, excellent flexibility and flatness when the film is formed from the material. ##STR00001##

Methods, compositions, reagents, and systems that allow for the preparation and utilization of sulfonamide salt polymer electrolytes are disclosed herein. Methods and reagents to prepare sulfonamide salt monomers are also disclosed herein. The sulfonamide salt polymer electrolytes can be used as components in energy storage devices, conductive materials, electrochemical cells, gels, adhesives, and drug delivery vehicles.

Disclosed herein are electrically conductive polymer compositions comprising a polymer and a dispersant, and methods of synthesizing the polymers therein. Also disclosed herein are microelectrode arrays comprising the electrically conductive material and a conductive polymer composition attached to a surface of the electrically conductive material. Further disclosed herein are methods of detecting electrical activity in a cell comprising contacting the microelectrode array with a cell and detecting electrical activity in the cell by covalently attaching the polymer of the conductive polymer composition to a protein on the surface of the cell.

Provided is a method of producing an amine adduct of a conductive composite, including: adding an amine compound to a conductive polymer dispersion liquid which contains water and a conductive composite containing a conjugated conductive polymer and a polyanion at a mass ratio of the conjugated conductive polymer to the polyanion of 1:3 to 1:7.5 to precipitate an amine adduct of the conductive composite.