Electrospinning is a simple method
for producing nanoscale or microscale
fibers from a wide variety of materials. Intrinsically conductive
polymers (ICPs), such as polyaniline (PANI), show higher conductivities
with the use of secondary dopants like m-cresol.
However, due to the low volatility of most secondary dopants, it has
not been possible to electrospin secondary doped ICP fibers. In this
work, the concept of secondary doping has been applied for the first
time to electrospun fibers. Using a novel design for rotating drum
electrospinning, fibers were efficiently and reliably produced from
a mixture of low- and high-volatility solvents. The conductivity of
electrospun PANI–poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) fibers prepared
was 1.73 S/cm, two orders of magnitude higher than the average value
reported in the literature. These conductive fibers were tested as
electrodes for supercapacitors and were shown to have a specific capacitance
as high as 3121 F/g at 0.1 A/g, the highest value reported, thus far,
for PANI–PEO electrospun fibers.
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