Novel synthesis of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanotubes and hollow micro-spheres

A series of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanomaterials are prepared in aqueous solution without using any organic solvent, acid, surfactant and porous hard template. PEDOT can be tuned into different shapes, such as nano-tubes, spheres and vesicle-like particles by simply adjusting the experiment conditions. The different nanostructured products show similar electrochemical voltammogram behavior, though XRD and FTIR analysis indicate some different doping level and crystallity between them. The formation of different shaped polymer particles is supposed to be associated with the self assembly growth of the formed reactive EDOT species.