Substrate coating by conductive polymers through spontaneous oxidation and polymerization

Abstract

A variety of substrates and substances were coated with conductive polymers at low temperature under ambient pressure. The substrate coating with heteroaromatic polymers proceeded through spontaneous oxidation and polymerization of the monomers, such as pyrrole (Py) and thiophene (Tp) derivatives. The monomer liquid, the solid nitrate oxidant, and the substrate were put in a closed vessel. The vapor of the activated monomer was spontaneously generated on the surface of the solid nitrate oxidant through the diffusion of the monomer vapor. The monomer and its activated species were adsorbed and polymerized on the surface of any substrate in the reaction vessel. The thickness was controlled by the reaction time. The substituents of the monomers had an influence on the coating rate. The morphology of the coated polymers was changed by the substrates with different wettabilities. The thin coating of the heteroaromatic polymer was applied to the preparation of an electrode for charge storage based on the redox reaction. The thin coating on the current collector showed an enhanced high-rate charge-discharge performance. The present synthetic approach can be applied to the coating of polymer materials on a variety of substrates from the monomer vapor under mild conditions.

Experiment‐Oriented Materials Informatics for Efficient Exploration of Design Strategy and New Compounds for High‐Performance Organic Anode

“…Molecular structures and morphologies have impact on electrochemical properties of organic electrodes. In our previous works, electrochemical properties of conjugated polymers and redox‐active molecules were improved by the morphology control from nanometer to micrometer scales . Nanoscale morphologies play important roles for diffusion behavior of charge carriers .…”

Nanoarchitectonics for conductive polymers using solid and vapor phases

“…Our group has studied new polymerization methods for heteroaromatic monomers using the surface and inside of the oxidative agents with diffusion of the monomer vapor at low temperature below 60 °C under ambient pressure. 16 a ,21–25 In the present paper, the temperature range for syntheses of conductive polymers is defined as room temperature to 100 °C. The melting ( T m ) and boiling ( T b ) points of typical heteroaromatic monomers are T m = −23 °C and T b = 130 °C for Py and T m = 10 °C and T b = 112 °C for 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT).…”

“…Section 3 introduces the polymerization of heteroaromatic monomers on the surface of crystals. 21,22 For example, porous morphologies and 2D nanostructures were obtained on the surface of the oxidant crystals with diffusion of the monomer vapor. Section 4 shows the polymerization of heteroaromatic monomers inside of the oxidant crystals with continuous supply of the monomer vapor.…”

Multistage redox reactions of conductive-polymer nanostructures with lithium ions: potential for high-performance organic anodes

“…The theoretical capacity is determined by the doping level, such as 136 mAh g -1 for polypyrrole (PPy) with a maximum 33 mol% anion doping and 82 mAh g -1 for polythiophene (PTp) with 25 mol% anion doping 13,16,19,21 . The improved electrochemical properties were achieved by the design of the molecules and morphologies 17,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] . Our group reported new methods for the simultaneous synthesis and morphology control of conductive polymers using solid-state oxidant crystals [24][25][26][27][28] .…”

“…The improved electrochemical properties were achieved by the design of the molecules and morphologies 17,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] . Our group reported new methods for the simultaneous synthesis and morphology control of conductive polymers using solid-state oxidant crystals [24][25][26][27][28] . In contrast, the electrochemical redox reactions of conductive polymers with doping and dedoping of cations (n doping) have not been fully studied for charge storage applications (Fig.…”