Conducting polymer nanofibers with controlled diameters synthesized in hexagonal mesophases

International audience; Oil-swollen hexagonal mesophases resulting from the surfactant mediated self-assembly of a quaternarymixture of water, surfactant, co-surfactant, and oil, are versatile templates to synthesize anisotropicnanomaterials. Poly(diphenylbutadyine) (PDPB) polymer nanofibrous network structures were producedin the oil tubes of the mesophases by photo-induced radical polymerization using a chemical initiator orby gamma irradiation. The diameter of the nanofibers can be varied from 5 to 25 nm in a controlledfashion, and is directly determined by the diameter of the oil tube of the doped mesophases, proving thusa direct templating effect of the mesophase. The nanoIR technique allows chemical characterization andidentification of the polymer nanostructures simultaneously with morphological characterization. Cyclicvoltammetry has been used as an effective approach to evaluate both the energy level of the highestoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO) as well as the energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(LUMO) and the band gap of the PDPB. The conductivity of the PDPB nanostructures obtained by gammairradiation was estimated to be 0.1 S/cm, which is higher than the conductivity of PDPB nanostructurespreviously reported in the literature. The soft template approach allows size tunable synthesis of anisotropicpolymer structures with morphological homogeneity at the nanoscale with high conductivity, thus it appearsto be an attractive opportunity for electronic device applications.