Conducting polymeric materials with micro-/ nano-structures have potential applications in fabrication of various optical, electronic, sensing and electrochemical de-vices. This is mainly because these materials not only possess the characteristics of conducting polymers, but also have special functions based on their micro- or nano-structures. In this review, we summarize the recent work on “soft” and “hard” template-guided syntheses of micro-/nano-structured conducting polymers and open up the prospects of the main trends in this field.
LU GewuCHEN Feng'enWU XufengQU LiangtiZHANG JiaxinSHI Gaoquan
Polypyrrole-polystyrene sulfonic acid (PPy-PSSA) composite films have been electrosynthesized in an aqueous solution of PSSA. The electro-active films exhibit cation exchange during the redox process. Infrared, Raman and energydispersive spectroscopic results demonstrated that the polyanion of PSS- is co-deposited into the PPy matrix and couldn't be stripped from the film extensively by dedoping. The doping level together with dipolaron content of the PPy-PSSA composite film increases during electrochemical polymerization process. SEM images revealed that the composite film has smooth and compact morphology and AFM pictures suggested that PPy chains are possibly grown perpendicular to the electrode surface. TGA tests indicated that the composite films has much better thermal stability than that of pure PPy.Furthermore, electrochemical studies showed that the relaxation process at certain holding potential has great effect on the shape of the cyclic voltammetric curves of PPy-PSSA composite film. The composite film exhibits cation and anion exchange during the redox process after undergoing the relaxation step. It is more difficult for divalent anion to enter the polymer matrix than a univalent ion, and a large cation such as (CH3CH2CH2CH2)4N+ cannot be involved in the ion exchange process.
Thin films of poly(3-hexadecyl pyrrole) (P3HDP) nanoparticles have been fabricated by using Langmuir-Blodgett film deposition technique. The structures and morphology of the films were studied by using infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission microscopes. The experimental results demonstrated that the nanoparticles were formed by self-assembling P3HDP at air-water surface. The water contact angles of these films with different deposition layers were measured to be as high as 110°.
Highly sensitive catalase electrodes for sensing hydrogen peroxide have been fabricated based on polypyrrole films with microcontainers. The microcontainers have a cup-like morphology and are arranged in a density of 4000 units cm-2. Catalase was immobilized into the polypyrrole films with microcontainers (Ppy-mc), which were coated on a Pt substrate electrode. The catalase/Ppy-mc/Pt electrode showed linear response to hydrogen peroxide in the range of 0-18 mmol/L at a potential of-0.3 V (versus SCE). Its sensitivity was measured to be approximately 3.64μA (mmol/L)-1 cm-2, which is about two times that of the electrode fabricated from a flat Ppy film (catalase/Ppy-flat/Pt electrode). The electrode is highly selective for hydrogen peroxide and its sensitivity is interfered by potential interferents such as ascorbic acid, urea and fructose. Furthermore, such catalase electrodes showed long-term storage stability of 15 days under dry conditions at 4℃.
