Swelling and volume changes of polyaniline upon redox switching

A Lightweight and Low-Voltage-Operating Linear Actuator Based on the Electroactive Polymer Polypyrrole

In recent decades, significant research efforts have been devoted to studying various types of actuators. Of particular interest are soft actuators based on electroactive polymers, which offer low operating voltage, light weight, and fast response. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of a soft linear actuator fabricated from polypyrrole (PPy), an electroactive polymer that is easy to synthesize, cost-effective, and biocompatible. By optimizing the polymerization conditions, the operation condition and environment, we were able to achieve improved and stable actuator performance. Furthermore, we developed a new actuator-contained component with a flexible counter electrode to build an actuator that operates in air. This approach enabled us to build small and lightweight actuators that operate in air, with a diameter of 5 mm, resembling artificial muscles. Our resulting miniaturized and integrated linear PPy-based actuators can be driven at low voltages (±1.5 V), making them suitable for use in various parts of the body. As such, this actuator holds significant potential for a wide range of applications in the fields of soft electronics, drug delivery, artificial organs, and muscles, as well as a component material for portable medical sensors and devices.

Nanostructured Conducting Polymers and Their Applications in Energy Storage Devices

Due to the energy requirements for various human activities, and the need for a substantial change in the energy matrix, it is important to research and design new materials that allow the availability of appropriate technologies. In this sense, together with proposals that advocate a reduction in the conversion, storage, and feeding of clean energies, such as fuel cells and electrochemical capacitors energy consumption, there is an approach that is based on the development of better applications for and batteries. An alternative to commonly used inorganic materials is conducting polymers (CP). Strategies based on the formation of composite materials and nanostructures allow outstanding performances in electrochemical energy storage devices such as those mentioned. Particularly, the nanostructuring of CP stands out because, in the last two decades, there has been an important evolution in the design of various types of nanostructures, with a strong focus on their synergistic combination with other types of materials. This bibliographic compilation reviews state of the art in this area, with a special focus on how nanostructured CP would contribute to the search for new materials for the development of energy storage devices, based mainly on the morphology they present and on their versatility to be combined with other materials, which allows notable improvements in aspects such as reduction in ionic diffusion trajectories and electronic transport, optimization of spaces for ion penetration, a greater number of electrochemically active sites and better stability in charge/discharge cycles.

pH/NIR-Responsive Polypyrrole-Functionalized Fibrous Localized Drug-Delivery Platform for Synergistic Cancer Therapy

Localized drug-delivery systems (LDDSs) are a promising approach for cancer treatment because they decrease systematic toxicity and enhance the therapeutic effect of the drugs via site-specific delivery of active compounds and possible gradual release. However, the development of LDDS with rationally controlled drug release and intelligent functionality holds great challenge. To this end, we have developed a tailorable fibrous site-specific drug-delivery platform functionalized with pH- and near-infrared (NIR)-responsive polypyrrole (PPy), with the aim of cancer treatment via a combination of photothermal ablation and chemotherapy. First, a paclitaxel (PTX)-loaded polycaprolactone (PCL) (PCL-PTX) mat was prepared by electrospinning and subsequently in situ membrane surface-functionalized with different concentrations of PPy. The obtained PPy-functionalized mats exhibited excellent photostability and heating property in response to NIR exposure. PPy-coated mats exhibited enhanced PTX release in a pH 5.5 environment compared to pH 7.4. Release was further accelerated in response to NIR under both conditions; however, superior release was observed at pH 5.5 compared to pH 7.4, indicating a dual stimuli-responsive (pH and NIR) drug-delivery platform. More importantly, the 808 nm NIR irradiation enabled markedly accelerated PTX release from PPy-coated PCL-PTX mats and slowed and sustained release following termination of laser irradiation, confirming representative stepwise drug-release properties. PPy-coated PCL-PTX mats presented significantly enhanced in vitro and in vivo anticancer efficacy under NIR irradiation compared to PPy-coated PCL-PTX mats not exposed to NIR or uncoated mats (PCL-PTX). This study has thus developed a promising fibrous site-specific drug-delivery platform with NIR- and pH-triggering that notably utilizes PPy as a dopant for synergistic photothermal chemotherapy.

Iptycene substitution enhances the electrochemical activity and stability of polyanilines

The electrochemical stability of polyaniline (PANI) films is a key issue for their application as electrode materials. This work demonstrates that a low fraction (<5%) of pentiptycene incorporation of the PANI conjugated backbone could significantly enhance the capacitive performance and charge-discharge cycling stability of PANI films, attributable to the clipping effect of pentiptycene cavities that restricts motional freedom of polymer chains and promotes interchain conductivity.

The effect of anions on the electrochemical properties of polyaniline for supercapacitors

To investigate the effect of anions on the electrochemical properties of polyaniline (PANI) for supercapacitors, electrochemical performance tests of PANI with different dopant anions were carried out in the corresponding acid solutions by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) methods. In particular, ionic fluxes and solvent molecules involved in redox processes can be analyzed by the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) technique and discriminated by simultaneously recording cyclic voltammograms and mass changes during redox switching. The emeraldine base (EB) form of PANI prepared in a protonic acid with bigger anions can be easily doped by a protonic acid with smaller anions, and conversely, PANI-EB is hard to be doped. The anodic reversal potential of potentiodynamic cycling heavily influences the electrochemical stability of PANI. High anodic potentials result in PANI degradation. Its supercapacitive properties including specific capacitance, power density and cycling stability are strongly dependent upon the type of dopant anion. PANI with the dopant anions of oxalic acid has the highest specific capacitance and the best cycling stability among the used acids. The diffusion coefficient of anions plays a key role in determining power density. PANI films with organic dopant anions exhibit better cycling stability than their inorganic counterparts. It is believed that the hydrolysis of PANI facilitated by the additional water molecules accompanied by dopant anions into and out of the PANI matrix is a key factor responsible for the cycling instability.

Electrical and Electrochemical Properties of Conducting Polymers

Conducting polymers (CPs) have received much attention in both fundamental and practical studies because they have electrical and electrochemical properties similar to those of both traditional semiconductors and metals. CPs possess excellent characteristics such as mild synthesis and processing conditions, chemical and structural diversity, tunable conductivity, and structural flexibility. Advances in nanotechnology have allowed the fabrication of versatile CP nanomaterials with improved performance for various applications including electronics, optoelectronics, sensors, and energy devices. The aim of this review is to explore the conductivity mechanisms and electrical and electrochemical properties of CPs and to discuss the factors that significantly affect these properties. The size and morphology of the materials are also discussed as key parameters that affect their major properties. Finally, the latest trends in research on electrochemical capacitors and sensors are introduced through an in-depth discussion of the most remarkable studies reported since 2003.

An all-solid-state asymmetric device based on a polyaniline hydrogel for a high energy flexible supercapacitor

3D porous PANI hydrogel and a gel electrolyte were used to fabricate a high performance, all-solid-state, flexible asymmetric supercapacitor with an energy density of up to 6.16 mW h cm⁻³.

Towards the mechanism of electrochemical activity and self-healing of 1 wt% PTSA doped polyaniline in alkyd composite polymer coating: combined AFM-based studies

The mechanisms of electrochemical activity and the self-healing properties of a composite alkyd coating with 1 wt% PTSA doped polyaniline were investigated.

Electrochemical loading of TEM grids used for the study of potential dependent morphology of polyaniline nanofibres

An electrochemical method for loading electroactive materials over the TEM grid is reported. The protocol has been demonstrated using polyaniline as an example. The electroactive polymer was directly deposited over the Au TEM grid, used as working electrode in a 3 electrode electrochemical cell. The undisturbed as-deposited morphologies under the influence of various counter ions and ex situ electrochemical states have been studied and compared. Contrary to behaviour in bulk the individual polyaniline fibre was found thinner at anodic potentials. The movement of counter ions as a function of the electrochemical state of the polymer was studied using STEM-EDX elemental mapping.

Sub-nanometer expansions of redox responsive polymer films monitored by imaging ellipsometry

We describe a novel approach to quantitatively visualize sub nm height changes occurring in thin films of redox active polymers upon reversible electrochemical oxidation/reduction in situ and in real-time with electrochemical imaging ellipsometry (EC-IE). Our approach is based on the utilization of a micro-patterned substrate containing circular patterns of passive (non-redox active) 11-mercapto-1-undecanol (MCU) within a redox-responsive oligoethylene sulfide end-functionalized poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) (ES-PFS) film on a gold substrate. The non-redox responsive MCU layer was used as a molecular reference layer for the direct visualization of the minute thickness variations of the ES-PFS film. The ellipsometric microscopy images were recorded in aqueous electrolyte solutions at potentials of -0.1 V and 0.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl corresponding to the reduced and oxidized redox states of ES-PFS, respectively. The ellipsometric contrast images showed a 37 (±2)% intensity increase in the ES-PFS layer upon oxidation. The thickness of the ES-PFS layer reversibly changed between 4.0 (±0.1) nm and 3.4 (±0.1) nm upon oxidation and reduction, respectively, as determined by IE. Additionally, electrochemical atomic force microscopy (EC-AFM) was used to verify the redox controlled thickness variations. The proposed method opens novel avenues to optically visualize minute and rapid height changes occurring e.g. in redox active (and other stimulus responsive) polymer films in a fast and non-invasive manner.

Exchanged cations and water during reactions in polypyrrole macroions from artificial muscles

The movement of the bilayer (polypyrrole-dodecylbenzenesulfonate/tape) during artificial muscle bending under flow of current square waves was studied in aqueous solutions of chloride salts. During current flow, polypyrrole redox reactions result in variations in the volumes of the films and macroscopic bending: swelling by reduction with expulsion of cations and shrinking by oxidation with the insertion of cations. The described angles follow a linear function, different in each of the studied salts, of the consumed charge: they are faradaic polymeric muscles. The linearity indicates that cations are the only exchanged ions in the studied potential range. By flow of the same specific charge in every electrolyte, different angles were described by the muscle. The charge and the angle allow the number and volume of both the exchanged cations and the water molecules (related to a reference) between the film to be determined, in addition to the electrolyte per unit of charge during the driving reaction. The attained apparent solvation numbers for the exchanged cations were: 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.5, 0.4, 0.25, and 0.0 for Na(+), Mg(2+), La(3+), Li(+), Ca(2+), K(+), Rb(+), and Cs(+), respectively.

Sensing and tactile artificial muscles from reactive materials

Films of conducting polymers can be oxidized and reduced in a reversible way. Any intermediate oxidation state determines an electrochemical equilibrium. Chemical or physical variables acting on the film may modify the equilibrium potential, so that the film acts as a sensor of the variable. The working potential of polypyrrole/DBSA (Dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid) films, oxidized or reduced under constant currents, changes as a function of the working conditions: electrolyte concentration, temperature or mechanical stress. During oxidation, the reactive material is a sensor of the ambient, the consumed electrical energy being the sensing magnitude. Devices based on any of the electrochemical properties of conducting polymers must act simultaneously as sensors of the working conditions. Artificial muscles, as electrochemical actuators constituted by reactive materials, respond to the ambient conditions during actuation. In this way, they can be used as actuators, sensing the surrounding conditions during actuation. Actuating and sensing signals are simultaneously included by the same two connecting wires.