Polymer 252 (2022) 124952

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Polymer
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/polymer

Facile synthesis of highly conductive and dispersible PEDOT particles

Ge Cao a, Shaoyong Cai a, Yonghao Chen a, Dongyan Zhou a, He Zhang b, Yanqing Tian a, *
a
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is widely used in electronics for its excellent conducting property.
Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) However, it is challenging to synthesize PEDOT nanoparticles with high conductivity and high dispersibility in
nanoparticles various organic solvents. We introduce a novel strategy for synthesizing highly conductive, dispersible PEDOT
High conductivity
particles in a binary organic solvent system. The synthesis strategy is based on a standard chemical oxidation
High dispersibility
procedure, which uses ferric chloride (FeCl3) as the oxidant without any post-doping process in a mixed solvent
of dichloromethane and acetonitrile (CH2Cl2 and CH3CN). By optimizing the synthesis process, high-quality
colloidal PEDOT nanoparticles (average diameter is around 50 nm) are obtained with a high yield of over
75%. These nanoparticles show a maximum electrical conductivity of 220 S/cm, which is close to the highest
electrical conductivity of the current solid PEDOT powder. Moreover, these particles can be dispersed in various
organic solvents and water without a surfactant and maintain stable conductivity for over one month. This
outstanding processability and conductivity could reinforce thermoplastic polyurethane resins as conductive
composites. Prototyped applications of the PEDOT nanoparticles as supercapacitor materials are demonstrated.
The PEDOT nanoparticles show a high specific capacitance of 280 F/g, comparable to other reported PEDOT
materials prepared using various templates.

1. Introduction end-product [29]. Therefore, the development of high-performance

Conductive polymers (CPs) are considered to be a class of organic
materials with unique electrical and optical properties. Due to its ad­
vantages of light weight, high mechanical flexibility, good corrosion
resistance, and low processing cost, it is widely used in many fields
[1–9]. Among various conductive polymers, poly(3,4-ethylene dioxy­
thiophene) (PEDOT) has attracted significant attention due to its simple
preparation process and unique physical and chemical properties
[10–13]. Due to its relatively high conductivity, environmental stability,
and biocompatibility, PEDOT has been widely used in many applica­
tions, such as biological and gas sensors [14,15], microactuators [16],
batteries [17,18], and supercapacitors [19–21]. PEDOT with poly­
styrene sulfonate as dopant (PEDOT: PSS) is the most popular PEDOT
formulation used in many electronic applications because PSS can
effectively enhance the PEDOT’s conductivity, dispersibility in water,
and durability [22–26]. Unluckily, PEDOT: PSS lacks processability
because PEDOT: PSS has poor solubility in almost all organic solvents
[10,27,28]. Moreover, the efficiency and lifetime of PEDOT: PSS was
found to deteriorate in organic devices due to residual water in the
PEDOT without PSS is of great significance for improving the quality
of PEDOT-doped organic devices and expanding the application of
PEDOT in the use of organic solvents as processing media.
Previous research has shown that replacing PSS is crucial for
improving the quality of PEDOT-doped in organic electronic devices and
expanding the application of PEDOT. There are many ways to synthesize
PEDOT materials without using PSS as a dopant [30–35]. The most
common methods are to use organic solvents instead of water as the
reaction medium or to use vapor phase polymerization to minimize the
moisture content in the final product. At the same time, a suitable sta­
bilizer was selected to control the morphology of PEDOT and keep it in a
stable colloidal state [35]. Some work has been done to prepare PEDOT
materials without PSS as a dopant. For example, Cloutet et al. reported
the synthesis of stable PEDOT nanoparticles with a well-defined spher­
ical morphology in organic dispersant media [31]. D’Arcy proposed a
new method that uses polymerized vaporized EDOT monomers with an
aerosol containing droplets of ferric chloride solution to synthesize
submicron PEDOT particles (750 nm) with high conductivity over 300
S/cm [36].

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tianyq@sustech.edu.cn (Y. Tian).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2022.124952
Received 26 March 2022; Received in revised form 6 May 2022; Accepted 8 May 2022
Available online 14 May 2022
0032-3861/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
G. Cao et al.
Fig. 1. (a) Synthesized process of the PEDOT; (b) Mechanism of oxidative polymerization and doping occurs the PEDOT.
However, the above research still has certain shortcomings. They
have involved the use of large amounts of surfactants or insulating ad­
ditives, which significantly weakened the conductivity of PEDOT [35,
37]. The use of vapor phase polymerization for PEDOT requires a rela­
tively complex synthesis platform, increasing the synthesis process’s
complexity and cost. Therefore, developing an efficient and straight­
forward synthesis of high-quality PEDOT nanoparticles without stabi­
lizers is still a significant challenge.
To address the above significant challenges, this work introduced a
novel strategy for synthesizing PEDOT particles in a binary organic
solvent system (CH2Cl2/CH3CN) with ferric chloride (FeCl3) as the
oxidant without a surfactant. As a widely used organic solvent,
dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) could replace water as the reaction medium
for EDOT polymerization. It could effectively improve the quality of the
final product by significantly reducing water content in the product and
reducing the occurrence of side reactions. In addition, the polymeriza­
tion of EDOT in CH2Cl2 can form a relatively regular spherical particle
morphology, which helps to provide processability and reduce the use of
stabilizers. However, CH2Cl2 has very low solubility for EDOT’s oxidants
such as ferric chloride, which results in the final product PEDOT
showing a low yield and poor conductivity. Thus, acetonitrile, an
organic solvent that is miscible with dichloromethane and can dissolve a
large amount of ferric chloride, is introduced with CH2Cl2 as a binary
organic solvent system to polymerize EDOT. To the best of our knowl­
edge, this is the first report describing a combination of CH2Cl2 and
CH3CN as reaction medium and FeCl3 as oxidants for PEDOT synthesis.
The volume ratios of mixed organic solvents, monomer to oxidant, re­
action temperature, and reaction time were tuned for producing highly-
conductive and highly-dispersed PEDOT with a high yield of over 75%.
PEDOT nanoparticles (average 50 nm diameter) were obtained by
optimizing the synthesis process. These nanoparticles showed a
maximum electrical conductivity of 220 S/cm, which is close to the
highest electrical conductivity of the current solid PEDOT powder. Due
to the self-charge-stabilized colloidal morphology, the particles can be
2
Polymer 252 (2022) 124952
readily dispersed in various organic solvents or water without disper­
sant. This outstanding processability and conductivity could reinforce
thermoplastic polyurethane resins as conductive composites. A proto­
type application of the PEDOT nanoparticles for supercapacitor mate­
rials was explored, showing good potential applications. Thus, this work
provides an original, facile, low-cost route for producing high-quality
colloidal PEDOT nanoparticles.
2. Experimental section
2.1. Materials
3,4-Ethylene dioxythiophene (EDOT, 97%) and ferric chloride
(FeCl3, 99%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (City of Saint Louis,
USA). Dichloromethane, acetonitrile, Ethanol, dioxane, methyl isobutyl
ketone, ethyl acetate, methanol (CH3OH), n-hexane, and acetone were
supplied by Beijing Yinuokai Technology Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China).
Thermoplastic polyurethane was purchased from Guangdong Yoshida
Chemical.
2.2. Synthesis of PEDOT nanoparticles
In a typical polymerization for PEDOT nanoparticles, EDOT (1 mL,
1.31g, 9 mmol) was mixed with CH2Cl2 (60 mL) in an Erlenmeyer flask
at 0 ◦ C. Anhydrous FeCl3 (12g, 72 mmol) dissolved in 30 mL CH3CN was
added to the above solution under vigorous stirring. The polymerization
was carried out at 0 ◦ C for 24 h. The obtained PEDOT nanoparticles were
filtered and washed with diluted hydrochloric acid (1 mol/L) several
times to remove excess ferric chloride. The washed PEDOT nanoparticles
become blue powder after freeze-drying with a yield of 76%. The yield
calculation formula is described in equation S(1).
G. Cao et al.
Fig. 2. (a) The conductivity of the PEDOT nanoparticles prepared with different volume ratios of CH2Cl2 to CH3CN; (b) The conductivity and yields of the PEDOT
nanoparticles prepared with different FeCl3/monomer molar ratios; (c) The conductivity and yields of the PEDOT nanoparticles prepared with different polymer­
ization temperatures; (d) The conductivity and yields of the PEDOT nanoparticles prepared with different polymerization time.
2.3. Fabrication of PEDOT based device
Various amounts of PEDOT nanoparticles were dispersed to 15 ml of
dioxane in a 50 mL beaker by ultrasonic treatment for 30 min. Ther­
moplastic polyurethane (0.5g) was added to the suspension under
vigorous stirring. Finally, the film-like conductive composites possessing
different PEDOT nanoparticles (0–30 wt %) loading were obtained after
the evaporation of the excess solvent.
2.4. Characterization
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS) data were collected using a MIRA3, TESCAN (Brno,
Czech). The PEDOT powder was dispersed in ethanol and drop cast on
the silicon wafer. Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) data of the
PEDOT were obtained using a Waltham Nicolet 6700 spectrophotometer
(Waltham, USA). Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra data were
obtained with a Bruker D8ADVANCE CEO X-ray diffractometer (Rudolf-
Plank-Str, Germany). Ultraviolet–visible–near infrared spectra data
were obtained on a lambda 950 UV–vis–NIR spectrophotometer (Boston,
USA). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was performed on the PEDOT
powder using a PHI 5000 Versaprobe II (Chigasaki, Japan) (Fig. 5).
Pellets (The diameter is about 1 cm and the thickness is 50 μm) requiring
20 mg PEDOT nanoparticles, shaped under a hydrostatic pressure of 10
MPa, were used to test conductivity on the RTS-9 four-point probe sta­
tion (Guangzhou, China), consistent with results previously reported by
our group for the determination of conductivity [38]. Dynamic Light
Scattering (DLS) data were collected with a Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS
(Worcestershire, UK). The electrochemical performance of the PEDOT
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Polymer 252 (2022) 124952
was carried out by using an electrochemical workstation (Chenhua,
China). The gravimetric capacitance of the PEDOT was calculated from
the in equation S(2).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Synthesis of highly conductive and dispersible PEDOT
As shown in Fig. 1, colloidal PEDOT particles were prepared using
CH2Cl2 and CH3CN as a mixed reaction medium and ferric chloride
(FeCl3) as an oxidant at 0 ◦ C. EDOT is oxidized by contacting ferric ions
dissolved in CH3CN to form monomer radicals in a mixed organic me­
dium during polymerization. The mechanism is consistent with the
polymerization of EDOT in other reaction media [33]. Radical coupling
facilitates the assembly of oligomers and the formation of the conjugated
backbone controlled by the deprotonation process. In-situ chloride ion
doping increases the concentration of charge carriers in the polymer. It
generates a large amount of positive charge on the surface of the main
chain to maintain electrical neutrality, thereby improving the conduc­
tivity and colloidal stability of the PEDOT particles.
3.2. Optimization of the conductivity and yield of PEDOT nanoparticles
The polymerization of PEDOT on the mixed organic medium is sys­
tematically studied by controlling the ratios of mixed organic solvents,
the ratios of monomer to oxidant, reaction temperature, and reaction
time to pursue the best conductivity and yield.
For the chemical oxidation synthesis of most kinds of conducing
polymers, the polymerization medium is considered as a significant
G. Cao et al.
Fig. 3. (a and b) SEM images of the PEDOT nanoparticles under different magnification; (c) The size distribution of PEDOT nanoparticles analyzed by DLS; (d) The
size distribution of PEDOT particles statistically analyzed by SEM, the scale bar of SEM (inset) is 200 nm.
factor because conductivity, polymerization yield, and even the physical
and chemical properties of the polymer differ remarkably depending on
the types of reaction media [39,40]. In this work, we found that the
combination of CH2Cl2 and CH3CN as a mixed solvent for dissolving
EDOT and ferric chlorides is favorable for the polymerization because
CH2Cl2 as a low polarity solvent could replace water as a reaction sol­
vent to reduce the production of low conductivity by-products [41].
Moreover, ferric chloride has a high solubility in CH3CN, which is
miscible with CH2Cl2, which can effectively oxidize EDOT monomer and
doping, resulting in PEDOT formation. Furthermore, we have found that
the 2:1 vol ratio of CH2Cl2 and CH3CN is the most optimal composition
to obtain PEDOT nanoparticles with high electrical conductivity
(Fig. 2a). When the ratio of CH2Cl2 and CH3CN is higher than 2:1, the
content of dissolved FeCl3 is low in the mixed organic medium, where
the EDOT cannot be effectively oxidized or doped with chloride ion to
achieve satisfactory conductivity. On the contrary, a high concentration
of CH3CN (ratios of CH2Cl2/CH3CN are lower than 2:1) in the mixed
organic medium tends to induce bulky PEDOT formation instead of
nanoparticles (Fig. S1). At such a condition, the conductivity of the
obtained PEDOT is very low.
Fig. 2b displays the effect of the FeCl3/EDOT molar ratios on the
conductivity and yields of PEDOT synthesized at 25 ◦ C for 24 h. By
increasing the FeCl3/EDOT molar ratios from 1:1 to 8:1, the conductivity
is significantly increased to obtain the maximum conductivity of 85 S/
cm. With further increasing the molar ratio up to 10:1, a slight con­
ductivity decrease has been observed due to slightly over-oxidation.
The yields of PEDOT also rise gradually with the increase of FeCl3/
EDOT molar ratios from 1:1 to 8:1, reaching 101.5% at the ratio of 8:1
(Fig. 2b). The high yield of PEDOT (even more than 100%) could
attribute to the presence of chloride counterions in the polymer chain
and the hygroscopic of PEDOT. Similar phenomena have also been re­
ported in the synthesis of other conducting polymers [42,43].
Controlling the reaction temperature provides an essential means for
adjusting the conductivity of conductive polymers. Lowering the
4
Polymer 252 (2022) 124952
reaction temperature can effectively improve the conductivity of most
conductive polymers [40,41]. At the condition of FeCl3/EDOT molar
ratio of 8:1 and the reaction time of 24 h, the effect of reaction tem­
perature on the conductivity and yields of PEDOT is shown in Fig. 2c. It
can be seen that as the temperature increases, the yields gradually in­
crease from 76% to 105%.
In contrast, the conductivity reaches its maximum value of 220 S/cm
when prepared at 0 ◦ C and gradually decreases at higher synthesis
temperatures. It is generally believed that lowering the synthesis tem­
perature helps reduce defects in the polymer chain, leading to increased
conductivity [44].
As shown in Fig. 2d, the reaction time also affects the conductivity
and yield. The PEDOT synthesized at a FeCl3/EDOT molar ratio of 8:1 at
0 ◦ C exhibits a conductivity of 24.2 S cm-1 with a low yield of 11% when
the polymerization time is 2 h. With the increase in the reaction time,
the conductivity of PEDOT gradually increases to 220 S cm-1, and the
reaction yield gradually increases from 11% to 76%.
Thus, in this work, the optimized condition is CH2Cl2/CH3CN with a
volume ratio of 2:1, FeCl3/EDOT molar ratio of 8:1, a reaction temper­
ature of 0 ◦ C, and a reaction time of 24 h. Under such a condition,
PEDOT is synthesized with high electrical conductivity and yield.
3.3. Morphology and chemical characterization of the PEDOT particles
After freeze-drying, optimized PEDOT particles as dark blue powders
are obtained (Fig. S2). This dark blue color proves that chloride ions are
doped in PEDOT, which is essential for the high conductivity of PEDOT
[45].
Fig. 3a and b shows the morphology of the optimized PEDOT parti­
cles. It can be found that the nanoparticles have a relatively uniform
spherical structure. Statistical analysis of the particle diameter, helped
by SEM image and DLS Instruments, shows an average size of around 50
nm with a very narrow distribution range. Elemental mapping by EDS
spectroscopy shows the presence of carbon, oxygen, sulfur, and chlorine
G. Cao et al. Polymer 252 (2022) 124952

Fig. 4. (a) Fourier-transform infrared spectra of the PEDOT nanoparticles; (b) The PEDOT’s crystalline structure determined by Powder X-ray; (c) TGA data of the
PEDOT nanoparticles showing their thermostability. (d) The UV–vis spectrum of PEDOT nanoparticles.

Fig. 5. (a) The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of the PEDOT nanoparticles; (b) The X-ray photoelectron spectra of Cl 2p.

in the doped PEDOT particles (Fig. S3).
– C stretching at 1500 cm− 1 and
FT-IR displays the characteristic C–
the C–O–C vibrational peak at 1000 cm− 1 from ethylenedioxy in the
PEDOT-doped quinoid structure (Fig. 4a). The vibration bands of C–C
stretch at 1290 cm− 1 in the quinoidal structure of the thiophene ring.
The characteristic C–S bond stretching is observed (961, 907, and 742
cm− 1) from the ethylenedioxy ring.
The crystallinity of PEDOT particles is determined by powder XRD
spectroscopy (Fig. 4b). The PEDOT nanoparticles show a higher
crystallinity degree than the PEDOT nanoparticles synthesized by other
works [46]. There are two prominent peaks: the first two are designated
as (200) directions, showing edge stacking; the peak assigned to (020)
indicates face-to-face stacking (Fig. 3b).
The thermostability of the PEDOT nanoparticles is characterized by
TGA analysis (Fig. 4c). The weight loss at a temperature between 25 and
150 ◦ C is attributed to the residual solvent and the stored moisture. The
primary decomposition of the PEDOT nanoparticles occurs around
300 ◦ C.

5
G. Cao et al. Polymer 252 (2022) 124952

Fig. 6. (a) A diagrammatic representation of four-point probe measurement for the PEDOT nanoparticles; (b) A current-voltage characteristic for a pelletized PEDOT
powder; (c) The electrical stability of the PEDOT nanoparticles; (d) Zeta potential of the PEDOT nanoparticles in water; (e) The dispersibility of the PEDOT particles
in common organic solvents.

Fig. 4d shows the UV–vis spectrum of the PEDOT nanoparticles. The
maximum absorption of PEDOT is in the 900–1000 nm range. Generally,
neutral PEDOT produces a broad absorption peak in the visible light
region (400–600 nm), corresponding to the π-π* transition. However,
the broad absorption peak of highly doped conductive PEDOT is
generally above 800 nm, and the peak position is positively correlated
with the doping level of PEDOT [47].
The doping level of PEDOT nanoparticles is further characterized by
measuring chloride concentration using XPS. By comparing the Cl/S
ratio (Cl 2p peak normalized against S 2p), the PEDOT exhibits a ratio of
chloride/sulfur of 26%, close to the theoretical limit of 33% [36]. This
high doping level could lead to the high conductivity of PEDOT. PEDOT

6
G. Cao et al. Polymer 252 (2022) 124952

Fig. 7. The conductivity of the composites with different PEDOT loadings.

XPS shows three peaks from chloride environments with 199, 197, and
195 eV binding energies. These energy values, all lower than those for
covalent Cl–C bonding at 200 eV [48], could be considered as doping
moieties of Cl ions. The movement of these chloride ions is confined by
PEDOT’s high lattice energy and charge carrier interactions [49], which
leads to deep and stable doping of PEDOT.

3.4. The conductivity and dispersibility of the PEDOT

The conductivity of PEDOT particles is measured by a four-point

probe measurement. A diagrammatic representation of the four-point
probe measurement for the PEDOT nanoparticles was given in Fig. 6a.
The measurement demonstrates a conductivity of 220 S/cm of the
optimized PEDOT particles. This high electrical conductivity could be
attributed to the PEDOT nanoparticles’ high doping level and uniform
nanoparticle morphology. As far as we know, the electrical conductivity
is close to the highest electrical conductivity of the current solid PEDOT
powder (Table S1), combined with its facile production method and a
high yield, paving the way for further reducing the cost of the current
PEDOT formulation.
A current-voltage curve in Fig. 6b shows the ohmic behavior of the
PEDOT sample. According to Ohm’s law, the pellets exhibited a resis­
tance of around 6 Ω. The electrical stability of the PEDOT is shown in
Fig. 6c. After 30 days in ambient conditions, the conductivity of PEDOT
was almost unchangeable (Fig. 6c).
The dispersibility of PEDOT in the water is shown in Fig. 6b. The
PEDOT particles show a considerable zeta potential of +33 mV in water,
leading PEDOT to be colloidally stable in water. Moreover, unlike the
most common PEDOT: PSS formulations, PEDOT particles exhibit high
dispersibility in common polar organic solvents and even partially
disperse in non-polar n-hexane (Fig. 6e). These PEDOT particles could
keep colloidally stable in the common polar solvents for 4h. However,
they are not stable in non-polar solvents such as n-hexane (Fig. S4). This
characteristic of the PEDOT is essential to provide a method for
dispersing nanoparticles in resins to prepare various composite mate­
rials (Fig. 6e).

3.5. PEDOT particles as additives to reinforce thermoplastic resin

polyurethane
Fig. 8. (a) Cyclic voltammograms of the PEDOT nanoparticles; (b) The specific
capacitance of PEDOT nanoparticles with different current densities; (c) The
As stated before, PEDOT particles could afford high processability in
charge-discharge curves of the PEDOT nanoparticles.
common organic solvents. Thus, PEDOT particles could serve as an ad­
ditive to reinforce thermoplastic resin as conductive composites. Herein,
conductive thermoplastic composites are fabricated using a

7
G. Cao et al.
polyurethane resin as a polymeric matrix with different loading of
PEDOT particles. Polyurethane is a thermoplastic resin widely utilized
as flexible substrates in electronic applications [50–52]. As shown in
Fig. 7, the addition of these conductive particles renders the composite
conductive. The conductive composites filled with PEDOT nanoparticles
exhibited a well-distributed dark blue color, reflecting the excellent
dispersion of PEDOT nanoparticles in the resin. The conductivity of the
composites increases continuously with increasing PEDOT contents until
the loading reaches 20 wt%, indicating that 20 wt% is the threshold for
the percolation of these materials. When the PEDOT loading reaches 30
wt%, a maximum conductivity of 25 S/m was obtained.
3.6. The supercapacitor properties of the PEDOT
In the past two decades, great attention has been dedicated to
applying conductive polymers in electrochemical supercapacitors
[53–56]. The supercapacitor properties of the PEDOT nanoparticles
were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic char­
ge− discharge curves. Symmetrical triangular shapes in galvanostatic
curves (Fig. 8a) indicate good capacitive behavior. The highest specific
capacitance of the PEDOT is 280 F/g (Fig. 8b), which is obtained with a
scan rate of 5 mV. The specific capacitance of PEDOT nanoparticles
decreases from 280 F g-1 to 92 F g− 1 as the current density was increased
from 2 to 16 A g− 1. The charge-discharge curves (Fig. 8c) are symmetric
triangles with no signs of significant self-discharge, indicating a highly
reversible charge-discharge process.
Table S2 compares the specific capacitance of the PEDOT with some
recent works on PEDOT prepared by other template methods. The
PEDOT exhibits a relatively high value of 280 F/g, comparable to the
capacitance value of the PEDOT prepared by other template methods
[19,57,58]. Moreover, the preparation of PEDOT is facile with a high
yield. Therefore, the PEDOT nanoparticles prepared here provide a po­
tential material for low-cost, high-performance supercapacitors.
4. Conclusions
This work demonstrates a facile synthetic approach to producing
highly conductive, dispersible PEDOT nanoparticles by oxidative poly­
merization of EDOT in the binary organic solvent system. High-quality
colloidal PEDOT nanoparticles (average diameter of 50 nm) with a
maximum electrical conductivity of 220 S/cm were obtained by opti­
mizing the synthesis process. These particles could be dispersed in
various organic solvents or water without surfactants and maintain
stable conductivity over 30 days. The functionality provided by these
particles is potentially helpful as supercapacitor materials and conduc­
tive additives for reinforcing composites.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Ge Cao: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Method­
ology, Writing – original draft. Shaoyong Cai: Investigation, Formal
analysis. Yonghao Chen: Data curation, Formal analysis. Dongyan
Zhou: Data curation. He Zhang: Investigation, Writing – original draft.
Yanqing Tian: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project admin­
istration, Writing – original draft.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Start-up fund of SUSTech
(Y01256114).
8
Polymer 252 (2022) 124952
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.polymer.2022.124952.
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