AmericanChemicalSociety.com

We have been investigating the synthesis of conducting polymer cubic phases using surfactant templating techniques. Since starting this project, we have now determined the thermodynamic phase stability of mixtures of conducting polymer monomer (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), water, and several non-ionic surfactants. We examine the microstructure of these materials before and after polymerization using cross-polarized transmitted light optical microscopy, small angle X-ray scattering, and electron microscopy. Our results have shown that it is possible to increase the concentration of monomer up to 10 wt% using appropriate surfactants, in particular the non-ionic surfactants known as NP-10.

Now that the methods of sample preparation have been confirmed and reproduced, we are conducting detailed physical characterization of the resulting bicontinuous phases. We have determined that the cubic symmetry of the structure is retained. Preliminary results from our work were presented at the recent ACS meeting in Salt Lake City, and we have increased the stability of the phases using a crosslinkable, bifunctional monomer prepared by Prof. John Reynolds group at the University of Florida, who learned about our progress during this meeting. We are actively writing up our results and plan to submit these soon for extended formal publication.