Research Projects

This proposal aims to investigate a method of in-situ interfacial polymerization to fabricate flexible and stretchable conducting materials (CPs) for wearable energy storage devices. These materials consist of flexible thin films/elastomers incorporated with conductive fillers such as metal nanoparticles/nanowires, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, silicon-based semiconductors, indium tin oxide (ITO), and conducting polymers (CPs). CPs possess advantages such as low cost, good adhesion to flexible polymer substrates, less toxicity, low processing temperatures, and high compatibility with processing methods. The physicochemical properties of CPs can be tuned by variable doping conditions. CPs such as polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPy), polythiophene (PTh), and doped poly(ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) systems are widely accepted for the synthesis of supercapacitors for wearable electronics. However, most previous reports focus on synthesizing conductive materials for wearable devices that rely on processing techniques to mix CP solutions with flexible substrates. In-situ synthesis of CP films on the surface of flexible substrates and its successful incorporation in wearable systems as active materials is still in its infancy.