Morphologically Controlled Bioinspired Dopamine‐Polypyrrole Nanostructures with Tunable Electrical Properties

Abstract

In order to develop functional nanostructures with controllable size, composition, morphology, and interface, a series of dopamine (DA) modified polypyrrole (PPy) nanostructures that have tunable electrical conductivity and improved water dispersibility are prepared. The DA‐PPy nanostructures exhibit various morphologies, including nanosphere, nanofiber, nanorod, and nanoflake; and all of these nanostructures can be achieved by simply varying the DA/Py reacting mole ratio. Furthermore, the potential application of each as‐fabricated DA‐PPy, which depend on their tunable electrical properties, are explored. In particular, DA‐PPy resulting from a 0.032 dopamine/pyrrole (DA/Py) mole ratio demonstrate superior capacitance for supercapacitors; at DA/Py = 0.064, DA‐PPy can be implemented as a co‐filler into the epoxy network to prepare hybrid electrically conductive adhesives and DA‐PPy synthesized from 0.64 DA/Py mole ratio reveals impressive electromagnetic microwave absorption ability that can be used for electromagnetic interference shielding applications. Due to the synergetic effects of DA and electrically conductive polymer PPy, this one‐step procedure represents a promising protocol to control the syntheses and properties of nanomaterials for applications in advanced electronic devices.