Issue 4, 2024

Morphology and size control of an amorphous conjugated polymer network containing quinone and pyrrole moieties via precipitation polymerization

Abstract

Morphology and size control of insoluble and infusible conjugated polymers are significant for their applications. Development of a precipitation polymerization route without using a surface stabilizer is preferred to control the reaction, morphology, and size. In the present work, precipitation polymerization for an amorphous conjugated polymer network, a new type of polymerized structure containing functional units, was studied for the size and morphology control in the solution phase at low temperature. The random copolymerization of benzoquinone (BQ) and pyrrole (Py) monomers formed microspheres of the BQ–Py network polymers as the precipitates in the solution phase. The particle diameter was controlled in the range of 70 nm and 1 μm by changing the pH of the solution and concentration of the monomers. The resultant nanoparticles were applied to a metal-free electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The catalytic activity of the BQ–Py nanoparticles was higher than that of the bulk micrometer-sized particles. The results imply that the morphology and size of amorphous conjugated polymer networks can be controlled by precipitation polymerization.

Graphical abstract: Morphology and size control of an amorphous conjugated polymer network containing quinone and pyrrole moieties via precipitation polymerization

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Nov 2023
Accepted
23 Dec 2023
First published
27 Dec 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale Adv., 2024,6, 1084-1090

Morphology and size control of an amorphous conjugated polymer network containing quinone and pyrrole moieties via precipitation polymerization

R. Sugiura, H. Imai and Y. Oaki, Nanoscale Adv., 2024, 6, 1084 DOI: 10.1039/D3NA01006F

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