Pulsed power (PP) is a technology where energy is released to a load in a short time. Every device using this technology needs electrodes to transfer the electric energy to the load. Recent developments in composite conductive polymers make them suitable as electrodes for new or existing PP applications, where normally metals were used. Composite polymers, consisting of conductive filler and a nonconductive matrix, can solve several specific problems in common and to be developed (PP) applications, due to their ability to conduct current or to store electrical charge, in combination with their elasticity. In general, polymer electrodes behave differently on pulsed stimuli compared to a static load and metal electrodes. An overview of many existing characterization methods and a newly developed technique suited for characterization of conductive polymers for PP applications in particular is described. For three different applications, artificial muscles, cell electroporation, and biofouling prevention, the requirements for the polymer electrodes and specific application-related issues are addressed with examples.@en

Electrically conductive polymer composites consisting of a nonconductive polymer matrix and conductive fillers, such as carbon black, are widely used. This contribution describes a newly developed measurement setup that has been built to investigate the specific electrical properties of polymer composite films for pulsed conditions in the microsecond (10-6 s) range. For an industrially available volume conductive polymer film (Carbostat) the contact resistivity to copper has been investigated. Also, three methods for minimizing the contact resistivity, namely pressing, gluing, and wetting, have been compared for a wide range of applied current densities.@en

Electrically conductive polymer composites consisting of a nonconductive polymer matrix and conductive fillers, such as carbon black, are widely used. This contribution describes the specific electrical properties of polymer composite films for pulsed conditions in the microsecond (10-6 s) range. Investigation of an industrially available volume conductive polymer film (Carbostat) showed that the electrical properties of this material, which can be considered for electrodes in pulsed power applications, are quite different from the properties for DC conditions. Key words: Plastic electrodes; Polymer characterization; Polymer composite; Pulsed power@en