Reactive Vapor Deposition of Conjugated Polymer Films on Arbitrary Substrates

Vapor-printed polymer electrodes for long-term, on-demand health monitoring

We vapor print conformal conjugated polymer electrodes directly onto living plants and use these electrodes to probe the health of actively growing specimens using bioimpedance spectroscopy. Vapor-printed polymer electrodes, unlike their adhesive thin-film counterparts, do not delaminate from microtextured living surfaces as the organism matures and do not observably attenuate the natural growth pattern and self-sustenance of the plants investigated here. On-demand, noninvasive bioimpedance spectroscopy performed with long-lasting vapor-printed polymer electrodes can reliably detect deep tissue damage caused by dehydration and ultraviolet A exposure throughout the life cycle of a plant.

Solvent-Free Reactive Vapor Deposition for Functional Fabrics: Separating Oil–Water Mixtures with Fabrics

A facile, solvent-minimized approach to functionalize commercial raw fabrics is described. Reactive vapor deposition of conjugated polymers followed by post-deposition functionalization transforms common, off-the-shelf textiles into distinctly hydrophobic or superhydrophilic materials. The fabric coatings created by reactive vapor deposition are especially resistant to mechanical and solvent washing, as compared to coatings applied by conventional, solution-phase silane chemistries. Janus fabrics with dissimilar wettability on each face are also easily created using a simple, three-step vapor coating process, which cannot be replicated using conventional solution phase functionalization strategies. Hydrophobic fabrics created using reactive vapor deposition and post-deposition functionalization are effective, reusable, large-volume oil–water separators, either under gravity filtration or as immersible absorbants.