A general synthesis strategy for the multifunctional 3D polypyrrole foam of thin 2D nanosheets

Abstract

A 3D macroporous conductive polymer foam of thin 2D polypyrrole (PPy) nanosheets is developed by adopting a novel intercalation of guest (monomer Py) between the layers of the lamellar host (3D vanadium oxide foam) template-replication strategy. The 3D PPy foam of thin 2D nanosheets exhibits diverse functions including reversible compressibility, shape memory, absorption/adsorption and mechanically deformable supercapacitor characteristics. The as-prepared 3D PPy foam of thin nanosheets is highly light weight with a density of 12 mg·cm⁻³ which can bear the large compressive strain up to 80% whether in wet or dry states; and can absorb organic solutions or extract dye molecules fast and efficiently. In particular, the PPy nanosheet-based foam as a mechanically deformable electrode material for supercapacitors exhibits high specific capacitance of 70 F·g⁻¹ at a fast charge–discharge rate of 50 mA·g⁻¹, superior to that of any other typical pure PPy-based capacitor. We envision that the strategy presented here should be applicable to fabrication of a wide variety of organic polymer foams and hydrogels of low-dimensional nanostructures and even inorganic foams and hydrogels of low-dimensional nanostructures, and thus allow for exploration of their advanced physical and chemical properties.

Keywords

intercalation polymerization / polypyrrole / nanosheet / supercapacitor / foam / multifunctionality

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21271032) and the Innovative Director Foundation of Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y350151CSB).

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