Densely packed open microspheres by soft template electropolymerization of b enzotrithiophene-based monomers

Here, a soft electropolymerization approach (called templateless) is used to prepare extremely ordered porous surface structures. For the first time, benzotrithiophene-based monomers are chosen for their high aromaticity and exceptional electropolymerization capacity. Different parameters are tested such as the nature of the substituent, the presence of a ketone group between the monomer and the substituent, the water content and the electropolymerization method. Homogeneous structures are especially obtained without ketone group, probably because the ketone group reduces pi-stacking interactions between benzotrithiophene moieties. Unique results are obtained with the monomers with aromatic groups (phenyl and naphthalene), which lead to densely packed huge open spheres by cyclic voltammetry and in dichloromethane saturated with water. Here, just a phenyl group is sufficient compared to other works with 3,4-phenylenedioxythiophene (PheDOT), 3,4-naphthalenedioxythiophene (NaphDOT) and thieno[3,4b]thiophene because BTT is already extremely aromatic. These porous surfaces could be used is the future for a huge number of applications such as in water-harvesting systems, oil adsorbents, sensors or is drug delivery. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A soft electropolymerization approach was used to prepare highly ordered porous surface structures with benzotrithiophene-based monomers, leading to unique results with aromatic groups forming densely packed large open spheres. The porous surfaces hold potential for various applications such as water-harvesting systems, oil adsorbents, sensors, and drug delivery in the future.