Synthesis of conducting polymer nanospheres of high electrochemical activity

Abstract

We propose a novel approach to obtain conducting polymer nanoparticles with high electrochemical activity and a narrow size distribution. The method – templateless and seedless – uses polyacrylate microspheres to deliver the monomer for the polymerization reaction. Thus the obtained nanostructures have an active – unblocked – surface allowing fast charge/ion-exchange and the formation of stable suspensions in water. The obtained nanostructures have the potential to be applied in different fields ranging from conductive coatings and additives for increasing electronic conductivity, to electrochemical sensors.