SYNTHESIS, PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS OF CONDUCTING POLYMER NANO-OBJECTS

C.A. BARBERO; D.F. ACEVEDO; E. YSLAS; M. BROGLIA; D.O. PERALTA; E. FRONTERA; R. RIVERO; C.R. RIVAROLA; V. RIVAROLA; M.C. MIRAS

MOLECULAR CRYSTALS AND LIQUID CRYSTALS - (Print)

TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD

Año: 2010 vol. 521 p. 214 - 228

1542-1406

Two different approaches are used to produce conducting polymer nano-objects. One is a¨top-down¨ approach which involves laser ablation of conducting polymer films using laserlight interference patterns (direct laser interference patterning, DLIP) to produce varioussurface shapes, including nanowires and nanodots. Polyaniline(PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy)nanostructures could be easily produced by ablation of films, previously formed by in-situpolymerization of the aromatic monomers. The other is a ¨bottom-up¨ approach involving thecontrolled nucleation and growth during monomer polymerization. This is achieved byperforming the polymerization at the interface of two immiscible solvents. Both kinds ofnanomaterials are characterized using dynamic light scattering, TEM, EDAX, FTIR, UV-visand fluorescence spectroscopy. The structures are studied by SEM-FIB, optical andfluorescence microscopy along with water contact angle. It is shown that nanometric sizedstructures can be made by both methods. The chemical structures are quite similar oridentical to that of the bulk polymer. While PANI nanofibers are dispersed in acid media, due to the surface charge related with chain protonation, they agglomerate in neutral media. In theinterest of biological applications, different soluble polymers are used to help disperse thenanofibers at neutral pH. Both the dispersing agent and PANI nanofibers have to beinnocuous to biological cells and higher organisms, like frog larvae. The successful intake ofPANI nanofibers into cancer line cells and frog larvae prompts its application as NIRradiation absorbers in photothermal or photoacoustic tumor therapy and/or tomography.