Fabrication of free-standing conductive polymer films through dynamic three-phase interline electropolymerization

Abstract

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and polypyrrole (PPy) free-standing conductive polymer films are prepared through a dynamic solid/liquid (oil)/liquid (water) three phase interline electropolymerization (D3PIE) process. The oil phase (dichloromethane) contains only hydrophobic monomer (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene or pyrrole), while the aqueous phase contains only dopant electrolytes. A platinum wire is immersed vertically across the O/W interface and is acted as working electrode. The electropolymerization starts from the three phase interline junction of water, dichloromethane and Pt wire and expands along the O/W interface so that a free-standing film forms. Furthermore, both the PEDOT film and PPy film exhibit heterogeneous microstructure because of this unique electropolymerization process. The novel D3PIE method proves to be applicable to the preparation of a variety of free-standing conductive polymer films with controllable size and microstructure.