Nanoreactor‐Assisted Polymerization Toward Stable Dispersions of Conductive Composite Particles

Abstract

We demonstrate the functioning of a macromolecular nanoreactor which guides a reaction in a confined volume and leads toward improved functional properties of a product material. In our approach, the polymerization of aniline (ANi) is conducted within the interfacial volume of spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB) which are densely affixed to colloidal particles. The SPB provide optimal conditions for matrix polymerization by the efficient confinement of ANi monomers within the finite volume of polyelectrolyte brushes and controlled delivery of the oxidizing reagent to the reaction volume. The excellent kinetic stability of the resulting core-shell particles together with the high macroscopic conductivity of the respective composite open up perspectives for novel materials (a conductive ink).

Improving Electrical Conductivity, Thermal Stability, and Solubility of Polyaniline-Polypyrrole Nanocomposite by Doping with Anionic Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes

“…The amount of negative charge per unit length in PSS chains is much more than the amount of positive charge per unit length in PANI-PPy chains, so part of SO 3− is balanced by Na + . Due to the effects of density gradient formed by densely grafted PSS chains, copolymerization reaction occurs preferentially in high-concentration aniline and pyrrole monomers [ 36 ], which are located at the cores of ASPB. According to the doping mechanism of protonic acid, the copolymerization of aniline and pyrrole monomers forms a polymeric cation, which raises the function of multivalent counter ions in brush layers.…”

Synthesis of Salt Responsive Spherical Polymer Brushes

“…It demonstrates that azo initiator has been attached on the surface of CS, which is also supported by the EDX analysis. In the spectra of SPB (Figure 2(c)), asymmetric SO 3 stretching bands at 1177 and 1129 cm −1 as well as symmetric SO 3 stretching bands at 1043 and 1009 cm −1 can be clearly observed, implying the existence of grafted PSSNa chains [23]. It is noteworthy that C=O stretching vibration of CS at 1705 cm −1 can still be seen in Figure 2(c).…”

Adsorption of Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brushes: from Interactions to Surface Patterning

“…While this has been demonstrated with hard particles [45], the stimuli-responsive nature of the brush layer avoids an irreversible hit-stick behavior and could therefore allow us to remove structural defects by annealing. Considering the numerous chemical modifications which have been reported for SPB [29,33,63], our study opens exiting avenues for the production of stimuli-responsive materials with a hierarchical internal organization. Figure 6 shows a particular example of such a hierarchical structure containing two levels of hierarchy: the internal core-shell character of the particles and their positional order on the printed micropattern.…”

“…Functionalization of the core-shell colloids can be accomplished by loading the core with hydrophobic substances, including many drugs. Moreover, the surrounding brush layer may serve as a carrier for active nanostructures, namely for metal nanoparticles, enzymes and conductive polymers yielding functional colloids with tailored biological, catalytic or electronic properties [29][30][31][32]. This opens up avenues for multifunctional responsive mesoscopic building units that are stable against coagulation and can be easily handled [33].…”