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This chapter summarizes the various strategies for the controlled synthesis of conducting polymer/inorganic nanostructure interfaces. We aimed to give a brief overview on the wealth of possibilities, also highlighting the particular importance of each method. The presented approaches span through chemical, electrochemical, and photo-polymerization of the conducting polymer (CP), but certain examples for the in situ formation of the inorganic component was also demonstrated. One common feature in all cases was the precise control over the properties of the organic/inorganic interface. Such control may include the manipulation of the composition, morphology, and optoelectronic properties of the hybrid assembly. It is also important that various comparative studies evidenced the superior performance of such prepared hybrid materials compared to their counterparts obtained via simple mechanical mixing. We really hope that the materials science community will increasingly exploit these smart methods in the future, to obtain nanohybrid materials with advanced properties.

Silicon carbide (SiC) quantum dots (QDs) are eminent candidates for various applications ranging from bioimaging and energy conversion, to optics. In this communication we describe a new top-down method for producing SiC QDs (50 nm) and slurry. Photo-assisted electrochemical etching is employed to obtain the quantum-sized clusters. We show that the process (hence, the amount of QDs synthesized as well as their size) can be controlled via regulating time as confirmed by both high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence data. The presented method may serve as a new avenue to prepare size-controlled nanoparticles of different semiconductors. Keywords: Photoelectrochemical corrosion, Luminescence, Semiconductor, Quantum-dot

Photoelectrochemical synthesis of TiO2/CdX/PEDOT [X: S, Se; PEDOT = poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)] ternary hybrids was carried out by exploiting the semiconductor (SC) nature of both the oxide and the chalcogenide component. To this end, TiO2 nanotube arrays were initially electrosynthesized on titanium foils by anodization in fluoride-containing aqueous media. CdS and CdSe quantum dots were subsequently deposited on the nanotubes using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR). The conjugated polymer, PEDOT, was then grafted using photoelectrochemical excitation of the SC matrix and potentiodynamic deposition, to ultimately afford the ternary hybrid architecture. The morphology, structural properties, and chemical composition of these assemblies were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and Raman spectroscopy, while their electroactivity was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. Photoelectrochemical deposition of the conducting polymer was carried out both through selective excitation of the chalcogenide sensitizer and the collective photoexcitation of the two SC components. Two precursor molecules, namely, EDOT or bis-EDOT were compared and contrasted in terms of their relative proclivity to oligomer/polymer formation. The use of UV or visible spectral wavelength components allowed for discrimination between the various polymer formation and SC photoexcitation pathways.