Confined molecular motion across liquid/liquid interfaces in a triphasic reaction towards free-standing conductive polymer tube arrays

Abstract

A “water/oil/water” triphasic reaction system was employed to control diffusion and reaction at separate “water/oil” and “oil/water” interfaces. The former controls the reactant feed rate and the latter determines the reaction rate. By the synergistic integration of diffusion and reaction in one reactor, freestanding tubular-arrayed polymer thin films were successfully fabricated. Molecular dynamics simulation was performed to understand the reactant diffusion across the two interfaces.