Interfacial polymerization for controllable fabrication of nanostructured conducting polymers and their composites

Abstract

Abstract Nanostructured conducting polymers (NCPs) have been extensively studied in various organic electronic fields because of their unique, excellent structural, mechanical, electric and photoelectric properties at the nanoscale. The sizes and morphologies of NCPs, which are highly dependent on the original molecular structure and synthesis optimization, play critical roles in the applications involving NCP materials. As a promising strategy among the chemical oxidative polymerization methods, interfacial polymerization (IP) has been used in creation of abundant NCP materials through facilely controlled interfacial oxidative reactions. Here, we present a special review on the research progress of tunable IP involving different interfaces (liquid-liquid, liquid-solid, vapor-solid and vapor-liquid), wherein the precursor monomers can be positioned in either of the two phases. Such highly tunable interfacial fabrication has been proven an effective method for making NCPs and their composites both with controllable structure and properties. The nanostructured materials fabricated therefrom have found broad, increasing applications in supercapacitor, sensor, corrosion protection and other fields as discussed as well in this review. Also given at the end of this review are a summary and prospective overview about the current research issues and future development. It is expected that this review will provide systematic assistance and inspire new ideas for the development of interfacial processing technique in the field of nanostructured polymers.