Nanofibrous and Graphene-Templated Conjugated Microporous Polymer Materials for Flexible Chemosensors and Supercapacitors

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) are usually obtained as amorphous or semicrystalline powders. Their insolubility and nonprocessability are considered as key bottlenecks that impede CMP applications. In this study, light-emitting, nanofibrous films were fabricated by electrospinning CMP/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) mixtures. The resulting nanofibrous films show a high flexibility combined with high porosity and surface-area-to-volume ratios. The CMP-based nanofibrous films have been used as sensitive sensors in the detection of nitroaromatic and benzoquinone vapors as well as oxidizing metal ions. Moreover, 4-iodophenyl-substituted graphene sheets were used as templates for growing CMP/graphene sandwiches. The graphene-based CMP (G-CMP) sandwiches are characterized by high surface areas and aspect ratios. Furthermore, hierarchically porous two-dimensional carbon nanosheets were obtained by pyrolysis of these carbon-rich G-CMP hybrids. The resulting carbon nanomaterials show excellent supercapacitor behavior with a 48% increased capacitance if compared to porous carbons without the graphene template.