Institut Charles Sadron News

Porous conductive polymer materials are increasingly being developed for applications in the fields of energy, sensors and biomedicine. The formation and control of these porous structures still need to be improved in order to control the properties of these multifunctional materials.  Through a correlative and multi-scale structural study (cryo-microscopy, X-ray scattering, spectroscopies), we have investigated the assembly mechanisms of PEDOT:PSS from the dispersion to the cryogel states. The ice-templating method was used to control the growth of ice crystals (size and directionnality) within hydrogels. After sublimation of the ice crystals, we obtained macroporous anisotropic structures that are electrically conducting (at the scale of the pore walls) but thermally isolating (at the scale of the bulk). This work was carried out by Quentin Weinbach and Laure Biniek thanks to an internal collaboration between SYCOMMOR, PLAMICS and Differix and a collaboration with IS2M & ICPEES. The work is published in Journal of Materials Chemistry C.