Large-scale synthesis of size- and thickness-tunable conducting polymer nanosheets via a salt-templated method

Abstract

Conducting polymer nanosheets are promising for many intriguing applications owing to their unique optical and electrical properties. However, it is still challenging to fabricate size- and thickness-tunable conducting polymer nanosheets with the feature of large scalability in a facile manner. Here, we developed a new approach for the massive synthesis of various conducting polymer nanosheets (polypyrrole (PPy), polyaniline (PANi), polyethylene dioxythiophene (PEDOT)) at a gas–solid interface between the monomeric gas and CuCl₂·2H₂O salt. The thickness of the as-obtained polymer nanosheets can be tuned from ∼2.1 to ∼8.8 nm. Furthermore, a highly conductive, flexible and large-area (∼60 cm²) PPy film with a transparency of ∼85% was prepared on the surface of the CuCl₂·2H₂O film. The PPy nanosheet-assembled free-standing electrode exhibited a high volumetric capacitance of ∼320 F cm⁻³ and great rate capability. This facile and cost-effective method could massively produce conducting polymer nanosheets, and is promising for potential practical applications.