Large-scale synthesis of organometallic polymer flowers with ultrathin petals for hydrogen peroxide sensing

Functional nanostructures are crucial for fabrication of nanodevices in the future. Herein we reported a facile and efficient approach for large-scale synthesis of organometallic polymer flowers. This approach involved crystallization of polyethylene (PE) capped with the cyanoferrate complex in the presence of polymeric dispersants, and subsequent in situ coordination polymerization of the cyanoferrate complex with Fe3+. This afforded polyethylene/Prussian blue (PE-PB) hybrid flowers with ultrathin petals of 7 nm, in which PE lamellae were sandwiched between two PB nanolayers. Morphological analysis revealed that the addition of an appropriate amount of hydrophobic poly(propylene glycol) favoured the formation of hybrid flowers. PE-PB flowers synthesized showed an enhanced surface area and improved electrocatalytic activity towards reduction of hydrogen peroxide. Such crystallization induced flowers of organometallic polymers offer a class of functional nanomaterials, which are useful for biosensing and nanodevices.