Previously, several groups have demonstrated that a variety of conducting polymers such as polythiophene, polyaniline, and polypyrrole can be deposited into hydrogels to create soft, electrically and ionically conductive materials. In particular, templating poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) within a self-assembled bicontinuous cubic phase could lead to well-defined microstructures, and thus improved control of their electrical properties by offering short charge diffusion pathway along the nanoscale channels. In present study, we showed that bicontinuous cubic PEDOT conducting polymer was successfully prepared within cubic poly(oxyethylene)10 nonylphenol ether (NP-10) surfactant gel templates. The microscopy and SAXS results showed that the microstructure of the PEDOT gels remained stable after the UV-initiated chemical polymerization, confirming the successful template-assisted synthesis of PEDOT into bicontinuous cubic microstructures. In comparison to the EDOT monomer-containing gels, the PEDOT structures had a higher storage modulus, due to the formation of semi-rigid PEDOT-rich microchannels, which yielded high thermal stability. AC impedance measurement was used to determine the electronic and ionic conductivities of our samples, which revealed that the PEDOT cubic phases were much more conductive than the PEDOT synthesized without surfactant templates. Furthermore, surfactant-templated PEDOT films were electrochemically fabricated on electrodes and the electrical properties were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). EIS showed a lowered magnitude of impedance around 0.1�1 kHz, where most neural activity happens. Together, these results show that the ordered PEDOT cubic phases are mechanically stable and electrically conductive, and thus should be of interest for applications where such properties are important, including low impedance, compliant coatings for bioelectronics.

Bicontinuous cubic poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) conducting gels: Morphologies and enhanced charge transport

247th National Meeting (2014)

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