Recent developments of the solution-processable and highly conductive polyaniline composites for optical and electrochemical applications

Abstract

Solution-processable conducting polymers (CPs) are an effective means for producing thin-film electrodes with tunable thickness, and excellent electrical, electrochemical, and optical properties. Especially, solution-processable polyaniline (PANI) composites have drawn a great deal of interest due to of their ease of film-forming, high conductivity up to 103 S/cm, excellent redox behaviors, processability, and scalability. In this review, basic principles, fabrication methods, and applications of solution-processable PANI composites will be discussed. In addition, recent researches on the PANI-based electrodes for solar cells (SCs), electrochromic (EC) windows, thermoelectric (TE) materials, supercapacitors, sensors, antennas, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), and anti-corrosion coatings will be discussed. The presented examples in this review will offer new insights in the design and fabrication of high-performance electrodes from the PANI composite solutions for the development of thin-film electrodes for state-of-art applications.