Nanofiber preparation by whisker method using solvent-soluble conducting polymers

We prepared conducting polymer nanofibers by means of whisker formation in a solution by using solvent-soluble conducting polymers with alkyl or alkoxy side chains. A morphological characterization using an atomic force microscope indicated that they have one-dimensional nanofibrillar structures with typical heights of 3–10 nm. The conductivity of a single poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofiber was measured using 300-nm-spacing Pt electrodes and the conductivity of 0.25 S/cm at 290 K was achieved by chemical doping using nitrosonium tetrafluoroborate. Considering the temperature dependence of the conductivity, the carrier transport in the single nanofiber was explained by a quasi-one-dimensional variable range-hopping model.