Patent ID: 7384578

Claim:
A method for producing a modified electroconductive polymer material comprising an electroconductive polymer; and a metal oxide filled in a space between chains of said electroconductive polymer, said metal being oxidized through a galvanic corrosion reaction between three substances consisting of a metal, a cation radical/dication in the electroconductive polymer, and absorbed water, said method comprising the steps of: allowing an electroconductive polymer and a metal having a work function less than that of said electroconductive polymer to be brought into contact with one another; keeping the contact between said metal and said electroconductive polymer, under the presence of absorbed water, so as to create the state of coexistence and forming a galvanic battery between three substances consisting of said metal, a cation radical/dication in the electroconductive polymer and said absorbed water; and entering a formed metal oxide/hydroxide into the electroconductive polymer, and diffusingly moving therein to reside in nano-space between chains of said electroconductive polymer, wherein said step of allowing said electroconductive polymer and said metal to be brought into contact with one another includes: forming on a substrate a film made of an electroconductive polymer; vapor-depositing on a surface of said film a metal having a work function less than that of said electroconductive polymer; and penetrating the absorbed water into the electroconductive polymer through the microvoid, micro-scratch or pinhole.