Self-Assembly by Pickering Emulsions

Another novel concept to obtain structured porous electrodes is based on self-assembly (see also above, work by Rolison [38], already cited), and a modified self-assembly approach for carbon/oxide composite electrodes of the AG Roth is discussed below. 

Inspired by He and Yu [163], Wolz and Hein [ 164] applied the Pickering approach in the synthesis of a porous electrode structure, in which the porosity is predefined by the oxide-polymer sphere size. Sb-doped SnOj (ATO) nanoparticles were used to stabilize a PANI core, while the size of these spheres and the stability of the emulsion could be tailored by the chosen synthesis conditions (pH value and solid content) between ATO, toluene/aniline, and water (A. Wolz and S. Hein, unpublished results). An optimized Pickering solution was stable for about 40 min without visible coalescence of the organic phase. 

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