Easy fabrication and excellent electrical conductivity of graphite oxide/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanocomposites

3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene is difficult to be polymerized in aqueous media due to its water insolubility. The negatively charged graphite oxide is employed as the “aided soil” to make 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene cations attractive to be polymerized easily even in aqueous media. The synthesized poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) shows ordered nanorod-like or needle-like structure depositing on the graphite oxide layer surface as well as settling on/around the edge of the graphite oxide layers. The electrical conductivity of the resulting graphite oxide/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanocomposites and 1,5-naphthalene disulfonic acid-doped graphite oxide/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanocomposites is 3.3 and 15.0 S/cm, respectively, 7 and 8 orders of magnitude higher than that of pristine graphite oxide.