Method for producing nanoparticles of conductive polymers and nanoparticles of conductive polymers produced by this method

Abstract

The invention discloses a new method for producing conductive polymer nanoparticles by polymerization in a solution containing an oxidant. The method involves introducing a monomer of the desired conductive polymer into polymer particles, from where it is gradually and spontaneously released into an aqueous solution containing the oxidant, undergoing polymerization at the interface between a lipophilic medium, which is microstructures in the form of the indicated polymer particles, and the indicated aqueous solution containing the oxidant. The conductive polymer nanostructures formed in the reaction with the oxidant are separated as free nanoparticles. After the synthesis reaction is complete, these nanoparticles are mechanically isolated from the reaction medium as the first fraction of nanoparticles, and then optionally subjected to additional processing to change their properties.In a further step, nanoparticles bound to polymer particles are optionally released from the surface of these polymer particles by introducing a surfactant into the reaction medium and are isolated as a second fraction of nanoparticles with electrochemical properties resulting from the presence of the surfactant on their surface, different from the properties of the nanoparticles constituting the first fraction. Also, during the polymerization process of a conductive polymer, additives can be incorporated into its structure to impart desired properties to the polymerized conductive polymer nanoparticles. The invention also encompasses conductive polymer nanoparticles, isolated as the first fraction of nanoparticles in the method defined above, having a surface free of substances that limit the exchange of charges and / or ions between the nanoparticle and the solution, in particular free of surfactants.