A Template‐Free Method Towards Conducting Polymer Nanostructures

Conducting polymer nanostructures have recently received special attention in nanoscience and nanotechnology because of their highly π-conjugated polymeric chains and metal-like conductivity, such that they can be regarded not only as excellent molecular wires, but also as basic units for the formation of nanodevices. Although various approaches, such as hard-template methods, soft-template methods, electrospinning technology, and so on are widely employed to synthesize or fabricate conducting polymer nanostructures and their composite nanostructures, each of the currently used methods possess disadvantages. Therefore, finding a facile, efficient, and controlled method of forming conducting polymer nanostructures is desirable. Similar to other nanomaterials, the effect of size (in these cases 1-100 nm) on the properties of the conducting polymer nanostructures must be considered. Electrical measurements of single nanotubes or nanowires are desirable in order to be able to understand the pure electrical properties of conducting polymer nanostructures. Compared with bulk conducting polymers, conducting polymer nanostructures are expected to display improved performance in technological applications because of the unique properties arising from their nanometer-scaled size: high conductivity, large surface area, and light weight. Thus, it is also desirable to develop promising applications for conducting polymer nanostructures. In accordance with the issues described above, our research focuses on a new synthesis method to form conducting polymer nanostructures and on the related formation mechanism of the resultant nanostructures. The electrical and transport properties of single nanotubes of conducting polymer, measured by a four-probe method, and promising applications of such template-free-synthesized conducting polymer nanostructures as new microwave absorbing materials and sensors guided by a reversible wettability are also of interest. This article reports some of our main results and reviews some important contributions of others.

[1]  Charles R. Martin,et al.  Nanomaterials: A Membrane-Based Synthetic Approach , 1994, Science.

[2]  Shah,et al.  Electrochemical principles for active control of liquids on submillimeter scales , 1999, Science.

[3]  Su-Moon Park,et al.  Electrochemistry of conductive polymers 37. Nanoscale monitoring of electrical properties during electrochemical growth of polypyrrole and its aging. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[4]  J. Delplancke,et al.  High-Resolution Electrochemical, Electrical, and Structural Characterization of a Dimensionally Stable Ti / TiO2 / Pt Electrode , 2002 .

[5]  M. Wan,et al.  Soluble conductive polypyrrole synthesized by in situ doping with β-naphthalene sulphonic acid , 1997 .

[6]  Yen Wei,et al.  Electromagnetic functionalized polyaniline nanostructures , 2005 .

[7]  Yen Wei,et al.  Polyaniline/TiO2 microspheres prepared by a template-free method , 2005 .

[8]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Conducting and Superhydrophobic Rambutan‐like Hollow Spheres of Polyaniline , 2007 .

[9]  Y. Long,et al.  Low-temperature resistivities of nanotubular polyaniline doped with H3PO4 and β-naphthalene sulfonic acid , 2003 .

[10]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Superhydrophobic 3D Microstructures Assembled From 1D Nanofibers of Polyaniline , 2008 .

[11]  Y. Long,et al.  Electrical conductivity of a single conducting polyaniline nanotube , 2003 .

[12]  Su-san Chang,et al.  Nanoscale measurements of conducting domains and current-voltage characteristics of chemically deposited polyaniline films. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[13]  Zhixiang Wei,et al.  Synthesis and characterization of self‐doped poly(aniline‐co‐aminonaphthalene sulfonic acid) nanotubes , 2003 .

[14]  Su-Moon Park,et al.  Electrochemistry of Conductive Polymers. 30. Nanoscale Measurements of Doping Distributions and Current−Voltage Characteristics of Electrochemically Deposited Polypyrrole Films , 2004 .

[15]  Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti,et al.  Semiconductive Polymer Blends: Correlating Structure with Transport Properties at the Nanoscale , 2004 .

[16]  Daoben Zhu,et al.  Synthesis, characterizations, and physical properties of carbon nanotubes coated by conducting polypyrrole , 1999 .

[17]  Yen Wei,et al.  Hydrophobicity of Polyaniline Microspheres Deposited on a Glass Substrate , 2006 .

[18]  Leibler,et al.  Switchable tackiness and wettability of a liquid crystalline polymer , 1999, Science.

[19]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Reversible Wettability Switching of Polyaniline‐Coated Fabric, Triggered by Ammonia Gas , 2007 .

[20]  Yen Wei,et al.  Hollow Polyaniline Microspheres with Conductive and Fluorescent Function , 2006 .

[21]  B. Ninham,et al.  Theory of self-assembly of hydrocarbon amphiphiles into micelles and bilayers , 1976 .

[22]  Zhixiang Wei,et al.  Hollow Microspheres of Polyaniline Synthesized with an Aniline Emulsion Template , 2002 .

[23]  P. Chrétien,et al.  Conducting probe atomic force microscopy applied to organic conducting blends , 2001 .

[24]  M. Wan,et al.  Polyaniline doped with different sulfonic acids by in situ doping polymerization , 1999 .

[25]  M. Wan,et al.  Polyaniline/TiO2 Composite Nanotubes , 2003 .

[26]  L. Zhang,et al.  Self‐Assembly of Polyaniline—From Nanotubes to Hollow Microspheres , 2003 .

[27]  M. Wan,et al.  Nanostructures of polyaniline doped with inorganic acids , 2002 .

[28]  M. Wan,et al.  Nanostructures of polyaniline composites containing nano-magnet , 2003 .

[29]  M. Wan,et al.  Self‐Assembling Sub‐Micrometer‐Sized Tube Junctions and Dendrites of Conducting Polymers , 2003 .

[30]  H. Ding,et al.  Controlling the Diameter of Polyaniline Nanofibers by Adjusting the Oxidant Redox Potential , 2007 .

[31]  Lei Jiang,et al.  Stable, Superhydrophobic, and Conductive Polyaniline/Polystyrene Films for Corrosive Environments , 2006 .

[32]  Yen Wei,et al.  Electromagnetic functionalized and core-shell micro/nanostructured polypyrrole composites. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[33]  Ichimura,et al.  Light-driven motion of liquids on a photoresponsive surface , 2000, Science.

[34]  N. Scherer,et al.  Nanoscale Electrical Conductivity and Surface Spectroscopic Studies of Indium−Tin Oxide , 2001 .

[35]  Zhixiang Wei,et al.  Formation Mechanism of Self-Assembled Polyaniline Micro/Nanotubes , 2002 .

[36]  M. Wan,et al.  Composite films of nanostructured polyaniline with poly(vinyl alcohol) , 2002 .

[37]  Jing Liu,et al.  Synthesis, characterization and electrical properties of microtubules of polypyrrole synthesized by a template-free method , 2001 .

[38]  Yen Wei,et al.  Multi-functional polypyrrole nanofibers via a functional dopant-introduced process , 2005 .

[39]  Young Mee Jung,et al.  Electrochemistry of conductive polymers. 34. Two-dimensional correlation analysis of real-time spectroelectrochemical data for aniline polymerization. , 2005, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[40]  M. Wan,et al.  Chemical One Step Method to Prepare Polyaniline Nanofibers with Electromagnetic Function , 2007 .

[41]  Su-Moon Park,et al.  Electrochemistry of conductive polymers. 32. Nanoscopic examination of conductivities of polyaniline films , 2004 .

[42]  M. Wan,et al.  Self-Assembled Polyaniline Nanostructures with Photoisomerization Function , 2002 .

[43]  M. Wan,et al.  Microtubules of polypyrrole synthesized by an electrochemical template-free method , 2001 .

[44]  S. K. Saha,et al.  Current–voltage characteristics of conducting polypyrrole nanotubes using atomic force microscopy , 2003 .

[45]  Frank Ko,et al.  Electrostatic fabrication of ultrafine conducting fibers: polyaniline/polyethylene oxide blends , 2000 .