Improvement of Electrical Conductivity of In Situ Iodine-Doped Polypyrrole Film Using Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Reactor with Capillary Electrodes

To improve the electrical conductivity of polypyrrole (PPy) nanostructure film through in situ iodine (I2) doping, this study proposes an atmospheric pressure plasma reactor (APPR) where heated I2 dopant vapor is fed through capillary electrodes that serve as electrodes for discharge ignition. A large amount of the heated I2 vapor introduced into the reactor separately from a monomer gas can be effectively activated by an intense plasma via capillary electrodes. In particular, intensive plasma is obtained by properly adjusting the bluff body position in the APPR. Based on the ICCD and OES results, the I2 vapor injected through the capillary nozzle electrode is observed to form I2 charge species. The formed I2 species could directly participate in growing in situ I2-doped PPy films. Thus, in situ I2-doped PPy nanostructure films grown using the proposed APPR exhibit higher thicknesses of 15.3 μm and good electrical conductivities, compared to the corresponding non-doped films.

Colloidal synthesis of porous red phosphorus nanoparticles as a metal-free electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction

Porous red phosphorus nanoparticles, P-RPNPs, were synthesized via a new colloidal approach and used as metal-free electrocatalysts in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). P-RPNPs were highly efficient in acidic media, required an overpotential of only 218 mV to reach 10 mA cm-2, and exhibited superior long-term durability.