Patent ID: 7687582

Claim:
A method of producing a stable colloidal dispersion of a poly(heteroaromatic) block copolymer in one or more polar solvents comprising the following steps: a. synthesizing a doped poly(heteroaromatic) block copolymer by oxidative copolymerization in water, an organic solvent or a mixture thereof of one or more heteroaromatic monomers and one or more linear non-conjugated polymeric blocks that are terminated at one end or at both ends with an end group that can undergo oxidative polymerization; b. separating the block copolymer formed in step “a” from the oxidative polymerization reaction mixture of step “a”, wherein the block copolymer forms a gel during the separation process, which gel remains in a wet state; c. purifying the wet block copolymer gel of step “b” from byproducts, unreacted reagents, and spent reactants of step “a” by a wet processing technique employing a solvent such that the wet block copolymer gel is kept in a wet state, and d. diluting the purified wet block copolymer gel of step “c” with an organic solvent, water or a miscible mixture thereof to form a stable colloidal dispersion, wherein the concentration of the poly(heteroaromatic) block copolymer in the wet block copolymer gel is between 3-13 weight % and the viscosity of the wet block copolymer gel is such that free flowing does not occur at room temperature in the absence of shear.