Synthesis of hybrid semiconducting polymer–metal latexes

Well-defined hybrid latex materials composed of a semi-conducting polymer (i.e. poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT)) and metal nano-objects (such as silver (Ag) or gold (Au)) were prepared by aqueous dispersion polymerization using ammonium persulfate as an oxidant and the corresponding metal salts as co-oxidants (HAuCl4 and AgNO3 respectively) in the presence of various reactive stabilizers such as aniline-modified-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAL-mod-An), pyrrole-modified-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAL-mod-Py), pyrrole-modified-poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl alcohol) (PVP-co-PVAL-mod-Py), or α,ω-fluorene-poly(ethyleneoxide) (Flu-PEO-Flu). The effects of the nature and concentration of the reactive stabilizers as well as the addition time of the co-oxidant on the morphology of the hybrid nanoparticles thus formed are discussed. It is found that the addition time of the co-oxidant affects considerably the size and morphology of the PEDOT–metal nanocomposites.