We report for the first time the use of p-toluene sulphonic acid (PTSa) and other sulphonic acids as trace-free oxidants for polymerisation of poly (bi-) and (ter-) thiophene. Sulphur is reduced from the oxidation state +6 to +4, leaving only SO 2 and an aromatic compound to evaporate during the polymerisation.
Herein it is demonstrated that the high level of interchain ordering of pEDOT is not necessary for the polymer to have efficient charge transport. Resistance and order are compared during the manufacturing process, where the polymerisation step and ordering step are decoupled as separate stages of the processing. GIWAXS experiments measuring interchain order are correlated to resistivity measurements at multiple stages of the manufacturing process on single films, and it is shown that for an individual film, where percolation is achieved, having a long range ordered system offers no reduction in resistance compared to having a highly disordered state of the same film. For this system, once the chains of pEDOT are formed, it is experimentally demonstrated that for percolation to be achieved, a remarkably low 4.5% volume fraction pEDOT is required. The apparent lack of necessity for significant interchain ordering allows for a meaningful measurement of development of the charge transport during the chemical polymerisation process.
Herein we report detailed electrochemical studies of a conducting polymer composite that is engineered to selectively react with protons and that has reactive sites across the entirety of the volume due to the excellent water permeability throughout the film. This chemically modified electrode (CME) utilises a conducting polymer as the source of charge carrier and Vitamin‐K as the water‐insoluble redox species that bonds protons in reduction and releases protons in oxidation. The overall number of active proton bonding sites was found to be 1.36 × 1016 sites/cm2, with a redox capacity of ∼64 mAh/g, which makes this CME comparable to modern inorganic cathodes. The electrode exhibited insignificant degradation after 500 cycles. The composite is relatively simple to manufacture as it requires no purification steps as part of the processing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.