Xinyu Zhang, assistant professor in the department, has developed a one-step oxidative templating strategy to prepare large quantities of two-dimensional nanostructures from conducting polymers. Conducting polymers are a group of materials, possessing both metallic and plastic properties, which can also be called organic metals or synthetic metals. Zhang and colleagues synthesized paper clip-like structures of conducting polymers in cetrimonium bromide complex at low temperatures.Their approach synthesizes bulk quantities of electronic conducting polymers, such as polyaniline and polypyrrole, which have an unusual paper clip-like morphology.

In Zhang’s study, the morphological differences did not affect the bulk characteristics, but the specific capacitance was nearly 5.5 times higher for the nanoclips than the conventional granular material. This allows more energy with the same amount of nanoclips when compared to conventional granular materials without a nano-feature. Zhang found that similar results occurred for other conducting polymers and reaction time was dictated by the degree of hydrophobicity and monomer size. The diameters were influenced by chain size and packing behavior. Nanocarbonization of the nanoclips through microwave irradiation preserved the main features of the two-dimensional morphology and enhanced thermal stability. Zhang recently published a paper on the topic in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. It has been highlighted in “Noteworthy Chemistry” by the American Chemical Society as well.