Conductive polymer nanocomposites: a critical review of modern advanced devices

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Conductive polymer nanocomposites have found applications in advanced devices: organic light emission diodes, organic photovoltaics, electrochromic devices, and others.

Abstract

As a unique group of advanced polymer-based materials, conductive polymer nanocomposites combining the flexibility and/or conductivity of the polymer with the distinct properties of nanofillers have found many intriguing applications in various modern devices. This review provides a concise yet inclusive introduction to the concept of conductive polymer nanocomposites backed by some modern technologically advanced devices resulting from the advances made in this area. The most commonly adopted preparation strategies are first summarized, which mainly include direct mixing/blending ( ex situ) and in situ methods ( in situ polymerization or nanostructure synthesis). Selective examples of device applications are then detailed including organic light emission diodes (OLEDs), photovoltaics (PV), electrochromic devices (ECDs) and others. Lastly, concluding remarks and future perspectives are given for conductive polymer nanocomposites as viable electronic integration tools.

Related collections

Most cited references 98

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Synthesis of thiol-derivatised gold nanoparticles in a two-phase Liquid–Liquid system

Mathias Brust, Merryl Walker, Donald Bethell … (1994)

0 comments Cited 761 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

An electrically and mechanically self-healing composite with pressure- and flexion-sensitive properties for electronic skin applications.

Benjamin Tee, Chao. Wang, Ranulfo Allen … (2012)

Pressure sensitivity and mechanical self-healing are two vital functions of the human skin. A flexible and electrically conducting material that can sense mechanical forces and yet be able to self-heal repeatably can be of use in emerging fields such as soft robotics and biomimetic prostheses, but combining all these properties together remains a challenging task. Here, we describe a composite material composed of a supramolecular organic polymer with embedded nickel nanostructured microparticles, which shows mechanical and electrical self-healing properties at ambient conditions. We also show that our material is pressure- and flexion-sensitive, and therefore suitable for electronic skin applications. The electrical conductivity can be tuned by varying the amount of nickel particles and can reach values as high as 40 S cm(-1). On rupture, the initial conductivity is repeatably restored with ∼90% efficiency after 15 s healing time, and the mechanical properties are completely restored after ∼10 min. The composite resistance varies inversely with applied flexion and tactile forces. These results demonstrate that natural skin's repeatable self-healing capability can be mimicked in conductive and piezoresistive materials, thus potentially expanding the scope of applications of current electronic skin systems.