Large-scale synthesis of size- and thickness-tunable conducting polymer nanosheets via a salt-templated method

Conducting polymer nanosheets are promising for many intriguing applications owing to their unique optical and electrical properties. However, it is still challenging to fabricate size- and thickness-tunable conducting polymer nanosheets with the feature of large scalability in a facile manner. Here, we developed a new approach for the massive synthesis of various conducting polymer nanosheets (polypyrrole (PPy), polyaniline (PANi), polyethylene dioxythiophene (PEDOT)) at a gas-solid interface between the monomeric gas and CuCl2 center dot 2H(2)O salt. The thickness of the as-obtained polymer nanosheets can be tuned from similar to 2.1 to similar to 8.8 nm. Furthermore, a highly conductive, flexible and large-area (similar to 60 cm(2)) PPy film with a transparency of similar to 85% was prepared on the surface of the CuCl2 center dot 2H(2)O film. The PPy nanosheet-assembled free-standing electrode exhibited a high volumetric capacitance of similar to 320 F cm(-3) and great rate capability. This facile and cost-effective method could massively produce conducting polymer nanosheets, and is promising for potential practical applications.