Explore the vast range of titles available.

Composite porous supercapacitor electrodes were prepared by growing poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) on graphite nanoplatelet- or graphene nanoplatelet-deposited open-cell polyurethane (PU) sponges via a vapor phase polymerization (VPP) method. The resulting composite supercapacitor electrodes exhibited great capacitive performance, with PEDOT acting as both the conductive binder and the active material. The chemical composition was characterized by Raman spectroscopy and the surface morphology was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cyclic voltammetry (CV), charge-discharge (CD) tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were utilized to study the electrical performance of the composite electrodes produced in symmetrically configured supercapacitor cells. The carbon material deposited on PU substrates and the polymerization temperature of PEDOT affected significantly the PEDOT morphology and the electrical properties of the resulting composite sponges. The highest areal specific capacitance 798.2 mF cm−2 was obtained with the composite sponge fabricated by VPP of PEDOT at 110 °C with graphene nanoplatelet-deposited PU sponge substrate. The capacitance retention of this composite electrode was 101.0% after 10,000 charging–discharging cycles. The high flexibility, high areal specific capacitance, excellent long-term cycling stability and low cost make these composite sponges promising electrode materials for supercapacitors.

Combining UV radiation with vapor phase polymerization (VPP) enables the fabrication of conducting polymer films with tunable electrical, optical, and electrochemical properties. However, traditional mask‐based UV exposure typically requires separation between a photomask and the sample, which limits resolution. This study circumvents this by using a maskless UV exposure system that directly projects high‐resolution patterns onto the substrate. Using poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):toluenesulfonate (PEDOT:Tos) as a model material, the resulting minimum feature sizes are approximately 8 µm—nearly half of what has been achieved using mask‐based systems. We find that the obtained resolution is not limited by the optics but is related to material aspects such as molecular diffusion, providing guidelines for further optimizations. Our findings also show that the total delivered dose, rather than exposure time or irradiance, controls the film properties. The resulting PEDOT:Tos patterns exhibit distinct, stable color variations during electrochemical switching, highlighting the potential of maskless UV‐VPP for high‐resolution electrochromic displays.

Low‐cost, flexible and thin display technology is becoming an interesting field of research as it can accompany the wide range of sensors being developed. Here, the synthesis of poly(dimethylpropylene‐dioxythiophene) (PProDOT‐Me2) by combining vapor phase polymerization and screen printing is presented. A multilayer architecture using poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and PProDOT‐Me2 to allow for electrochromic switching of PProDOT‐Me2, thereby eliminating the need for a supporting transparent conductive (metal oxide) layer is introduced. Furthermore, the technology is adapted to a blended architecture, which removes the additional processing steps and results in improved color contrast (∆E* > 25). This blend architecture is extended to other conductive polymers, such as PEDOT and polypyrrole (PPy), to highlight the ability of the technique to adjust the color of all‐printed electrochromic displays. As a result, a green color is obtained when combining the blue and yellow states of PEDOT and PPy, respectively. This technology has the potential to pave the way for all‐printed multicolored electrochromic displays for further utilization in printed electronic systems in various Internet of Things applications. Blends and multilayers of conducting polymers are developed and demonstrated in all‐printed electrochromic displays. The electrochromic layers are synthesized through a combination of vapor phase polymerization and screen printing. Displays with multiple colors and high color contrast are obtained by combining poly(dimethylpropylene‐dioxythiophene) (PProDOT‐Me2) or polypyrrole (PPy) with poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), where the latter obviates the need of transparent conductive oxides.

Nitrate (NO3) pollution in groundwater, caused by various factors both natural and synthetic, contributes to the decline of human health and well-being. Current techniques used for nitrate detection include spectroscopic, electrochemical, chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. It is highly desired to develop a simple cost-effective alternative to these complex methods for nitrate detection. Therefore, a real-time poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based sensor for nitrate ion detection via electrical property change is introduced in this study. Vapor phase polymerization (VPP) is used to create a polymer thin film. Variations in specific parameters during the process are tested and compared to develop new insights into PEDOT sensitivity towards nitrate ions. Through this study, the optimal fabrication parameters that produce a sensor with the highest sensitivity toward nitrate ions are determined. With the optimized parameters, the electrical resistance response of the sensor to 1000 ppm nitrate solution is 41.79%. Furthermore, the sensors can detect nitrate ranging from 1 ppm to 1000 ppm. The proposed sensor demonstrates excellent potential to detect the overabundance of nitrate ions in aqueous solutions in real time.

Metal-oxide-based gas sensors are extensively utilized across various domains due to their cost-effectiveness, facile fabrication, and compatibility with microelectronic technologies. The copper (Cu)-based multifunctional polymer-enhanced sensor (CuMPES) represents a notably tailored design for non-invasive environmental monitoring, particularly for detecting diverse gases with a low concentration. In this investigation, the Cu-CuO/PEDOT nanocomposite was synthesized via a straightforward chemical oxidation and vapor-phase polymerization. Comprehensive characterizations employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and micro Raman elucidated the composition, morphology, and crystal structure of this nanocomposite. Gas-sensing assessments of this CuMPES based on Cu-CuO/PEDOT revealed that the response current of the microneedle-type CuMPES surpassed that of the pure Cu microsensor by nearly threefold. The electrical conductivity and surface reactivity are enhanced by poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) polymerized on the CuO-coated surface, resulting in an enhanced sensor performance with an ultra-fast response/recovery of 0.3/0.5 s.

A longstanding challenge for accurate sensing of biomolecules such as proteins concerns specifically detecting a target analyte in a complex sample (e.g., food) without suffering from nonspecific binding or interactions from the target itself or other analytes present in the sample. Every sensor suffers from this fundamental drawback, which limits its sensitivity, specificity, and longevity. Existing efforts to improve signal-to-noise ratio involve introducing additional steps to reduce nonspecific binding, which increases the cost of the sensor. Conducting polymer-based chemiresistive biosensors can be mechanically flexible, are inexpensive, label-free, and capable of detecting specific biomolecules in complex samples without purification steps, making them very versatile. In this paper, a poly (3,4-ethylenedioxyphene) (PEDOT) and poly (3-thiopheneethanol) (3TE) interpenetrating network on polypropylene–cellulose fabric is used as a platform for a chemiresistive biosensor, and the specific and nonspecific binding events are studied using the Biotin/Avidin and Gliadin/G12-specific complementary binding pairs. We observed that specific binding between these pairs results in a negative ΔR with the addition of the analyte and this response increases with increasing analyte concentration. Nonspecific binding was found to have the opposite response, a positive ΔR upon the addition of analyte was seen in nonspecific binding cases. We further demonstrate the ability of the sensor to detect a targeted protein in a dual-protein analyte solution. The machine-learning classifier, random forest, predicted the presence of Biotin with 75% accuracy in dual-analyte solutions. This capability of distinguishing between specific and nonspecific binding can be a step towards solving the problem of false positives or false negatives to which all biosensors are susceptible.

Sensors based on everyday textiles are extremely promising for wearable applications. The present work focuses on high‐performance textile‐based capacitive strain sensors. Specifically, a conductive textile is obtained via vapor‐phase polymerization of pyrrole, in which the usage of methanol co‐vapor and the addition of imidazole to the iron chloride oxidant solution are shown to maximize conductivity. A technique to provide insulation and mechanical resistance using thermoplastic polyurethane and polystyrene‐block‐polyisoprene‐block‐polystyrene/barium titanate composite is developed. Such insulated conductive elastics are then used to fabricate highly sensitive twisted yarn capacitive sensors. A textile glove is subsequently embedded with such sensors. The wireless measurement and transmission system demonstrate efficacy in capturing capacitance variations upon strain and monitoring hand motions. A machine learning model to recognize 12 gestures is implemented—100% classification accuracy is obtained. Stretchable textile conductors are obtained through vapor phase polymerization of pyrrole on a braided cord in situ. Insulation with an elastic composite with a subsequent intertwining of two such yarns yields high‐performance capacitive sensor yarns. The studied sensors integrated into a glove accurately capture 12 hand gestures for subsequent gesture recognition using machine learning, achieving 100% accuracy.

The ability to bridge ionic and electronic transport coupled with large volumetric capacitance renders organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) ideal candidates for bioelectronic applications. Adopting ionic-liquid-based solid electrolytes extends their applicability and facilitates large-area printable productions. However, OETCs employing solid electrolytes tend to show a pronounced hysteresis in the transfer curve. A detailed understanding of the hysteresis is crucial for their accurate characterizations and reliable applications. Here, we demonstrated fully photopatternable poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):tosylate (PEDOT:Tos)- based OECTs incorporating the ionic liquid [EMIM][EtSO4] in a solid electrolyte (SE). The PEDOT:Tos films deposited through vapor phase polymerization (VPP) were annealed for different durations after the polymerization step. Upon rinsing with ethanol and the deposition of the SE, the OECTs made of these films showed impressive bias stress stability under prolonged operation cycles, a high switching ratio, a low threshold voltage, and a high transconductance. Furthermore, by taking transfer measurements with different sweep rates, we revealed two distinct regimes of hysteresis: kinetic hysteresis and non-kinetic hysteresis. We observed pronounced changes in these regimes after annealing. Finally, impedance spectroscopy exhibited that the PEDOT:Tos turned from a Faradaic to a non-Faradaic response through annealing, explaining the observed hysteresis changes in both regimes.

Electrochromic devices have important implications as smart windows for energy efficient buildings, internet of things devices, and in low-cost advertising applications. While inorganics have so far dominated the market, organic conductive polymers possess certain advantages such as high throughput and low temperature processing, faster switching, and superior optical memory. Here, we present organic electrochromic devices that can switch between two high-resolution images, based on UV-patterning and vapor phase polymerization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) films. We demonstrate that this technique can provide switchable greyscale images through the spatial control of a UV-light dose. The color space was able to be further altered via optimization of the oxidant concentration. Finally, we utilized a UV-patterning technique to produce functional paper with electrochromic patterns deposited on porous paper, allowing for environmentally friendly electrochromic displays.

Therapeutic solutions for injuries in the peripheral nervous system are limited and not existing in the case of the central nervous system. The electrical stimulation of cells through a cell-supporting conductive scaffold may contribute to new therapeutic solutions for nerve regeneration. In this work, biocompatible Polylactic acid (PLA) fibrous scaffolds incorporating Fe(III)Tosylate (FeTos) were produced by electrospinning a mixture of PLA/FeTos solutions towards a rotating cylinder, inducing fiber alignment. Fibers were coated with the conductive polymer Poly(3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) formed by vapor-phase polymerization of EDOT at 70 °C for 2 h. Different solvents (ETH, DMF and THF) were used as FeTos solvents to investigate the impact on the scaffold’s conductivity. Scaffold conductivity was estimated to be as high as 1.50 × 10−1 S/cm when FeTos was dissolved in DMF. In vitro tests were performed to evaluate possible scaffold cytotoxicity, following ISO 10993-5, revealing no cytotoxic effects. Differentiation and growth of cells from the neural cell line SH-SY5Y seeded on the scaffolds were also assessed, with neuritic extensions observed in cells differentiated in neurons with retinoic acid. These extensions tended to follow the preferential alignment of the scaffold fibers.