Micro‐interfacial polymerization of porous PEDOT for printable electronic devices

• Published in: EcoMat (Beijing, China) China), 2023-02, Vol.5 (2), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Cheng, Wanke, Liu, Yongzhuang, Tong, Zhihan, Zhu, Ying, Cao, Kaiyue, Chen, Wenshuai, Zhao, Dawei, Yu, Haipeng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adsorption; Conducting polymers; Controllability; deep eutectic solvent; Design; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Electronic devices; Electronic equipment; electronic ink; Electronics; Energy storage; Ferric chloride; Flexible components; flexible electronics; Hydrogen bonds; interfacial polymerization; Morphology; Polymerization; Polymers; Pore size; Porosity; Porous materials; porous PEDOT; Recyclability; Rheological properties; Room temperature; Scanning electron microscopy; Solvents; Transmission electron microscopy
• ISSN: 2567-3173; 2567-3173
• DOI: 10.1002/eom2.12288

Poly (3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is an electrically conductive polymer that shows various promising applications in flexible electronics. However, previous studies have mostly focused on enhancing the conductivity, while ignoring the design and development of porous PEDOT materials. Herein, we report a novel and sustainable strategy of utilizing a deep eutectic solvent of ferric chloride hexahydrate/acetamide to guide the interface‐controlled polymerization of PEDOT at room temperature. The obtained PEDOT material has its unique features of high porosity of 70.61%, high specific surface area of >58 m2/g, and ideal electrical conductivity of 6500 S/m, resulting in a wide voltage window of up to 1.2 V. Notably, this porous PEDOT can be easily formulated into printable electronic ink with controllable rheological properties, process ability, and recyclability, exhibiting the outstanding energy storage behavior in wearable electronics. This study reports an effective, green approach for the development of porous PEDOT materials and printable flexible devices. Porous poly (3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is realized via the interface‐controlled polymerization strategy in designed deep eutectic solvent (DES) system. The porous PEDOT combines high porosity of 70.61%, high specific surface area of >58 m2/g, and excellent electrical conductivity of 6500 S/m. Meanwhile, this porous PEDOT modulated to be electronic ink exhibits a high voltage window and ideal electrochemical properties in flexible electronics.