Poly(styrenesulfonate):Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PSS:PEDOT) Based Mixed Electronic and Ionic Conducting COF

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Electrochemistry

Background:

• Developing efficient mixed electronic-ionic (MEI) conductors is crucial for next-generation electronic devices.
• Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) offer tunable properties and ordered porosity but often lack dual conduction pathways.
• Integrating conductive polymers into COFs presents a promising strategy for MEI materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a novel MEI conductive material by combining PEDOT:PSS polymers with a COF architecture.
• To investigate the electronic and ionic conductivity of the resulting material.
• To demonstrate a new strategy for designing high-performance MEI-conductive frameworks.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a quinoline-linked COF (PSS_COF) with sulfonate-lined pores via a one-pot Povarov reaction.
• In-situ oxidative polymerization of PEDOT onto the sulfonated COF framework.
• Characterization using electron microscopy, SAED, UPS, EPR, and EIS.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of PEDOT:PSS_COF with an ordered structure.
• Significant enhancement of electronic conductivity from ~10^-8 to 10^-2 S/cm.
• Observation of humidity-dependent ionic conductivity up to 4.6 × 10^-5 S/cm, indicating protonic conduction.
• UPS data showed an elevated valence band maximum and higher DOS near the Fermi level.

Conclusions:

• The developed PEDOT:PSS_COF exhibits efficient mixed electronic-ionic conduction.
• This work presents a viable strategy for creating high-performance MEI conductive materials by incorporating electronic carriers into anionic frameworks.
• The findings pave the way for advanced electronic devices requiring dual conduction pathways.