Melt-Welding and Improved Electrical Conductivity of Nonwoven Porous Nanofiber Mats of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Grown on Electrospun Polystyrene Fiber Template

Abstract

A simple and efficient way of synthesizing conducting polymers on polymer templates and subsequently improving the connectivity between fibers and hence improving the electrical conductivity of nonwoven porous conducting polymer nanofiber mats is reported. The poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) conducting polymer was grown via a vapor-phase polymerization on a nonwoven porous mat of polystyrene (PS) nanofibers containing ferric p-toluenesulfonate (Fe-TS). The PS/Fe-TS nanofibers of diameter ∼300 nm were electrospun and exposed to 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) vapors. Two different vapor exposure conditions were studied. The shape of the PS template fibers is preserved best under the vapor exposure condition where the EDOT vapor does not condense on the fiber surface. A better electrical conductivity of the fiber mat can be obtained by condensing the EDOT vapor on the PS template fiber during the polymerization. This allows melt-welding of the fibers, which results in a better connectivity between the fibers. The porous PS-PDEOT fiber mats produced under the melt-welding condition showed a sheet conductivity of ∼1 S/cm.

Improvement of the electrochemical properties via poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) oriented micro/nanorods

“…For example, Wei synthesized nanofiber arrays of polypyrrole (PPy) with controlled lengths by a biphasic electrochemical strategy and PPy conical nanocontainer on Pt electrode [15,16]. However, the 1D nanostructured PEDOT was always synthesized by electrochemical polymerization via hard-template [13,17,18] or by oxidative polymerization via soft-template [19,20]. There is rare 1D nanostructured PEDOT electrochemically polymerized via soft-template.…”

Fabrication of Highly Conductive Pedot Nanofibers

“…In a first step, the supercapacitors were clipped between two Teflon plates and liquid EMIBF 4 was used as the electrolyte in a three-electrode configuration. In a second step, the supercapacitors were dried and then filled with a hot mixture of PVDF-co-HFP and EMIBF 4 (1:2). After cooling, the mixture formed a solid and flexible polymer electrolyte 7 .…”

“…In 2004, Winther-Jensen et al reported the preparation of PEDOT ultrathin films showing conductivities exceeding 10 3 S/cm using a vapour-phase polymerization process 2 . However, much lower conductivities, in the order of 10 -4 to 1 S/cm, have been reported for electrospun fibers incorporating PEDOT 3,4 . Conductivities in the order of 10 S/cm were also observed on PEDOT nanofiber webs but the fiber geometry was not preserved and the webs were transformed into a porous film structure upon rinsing procedures 5 .…”

Controlled‐release drug carriers based hierarchical silica microtubes templated from cellulose acetate nanofibers

“…29 For instance, hollow TiO 2 fibers were obtained from electrospun poly(ethylene oxide) 30 or polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers. 39 Long and uniform Al 2 O 3 microtubes were fabricated by atomic layer deposition on electrospun PVA microfiber templates. 32 ZnO hollow nanofibers were templated from electrospun fibers of PAN and polyvinylpyrrolidone, 33 polycarbonate, 34 polyvinyl-acetate, 35 and PAN.…”