Morphology-controlled carbonaceous and graphitic materials prepared from conjugated polymers as precursors through solid-state carbonization

Abstract This minireview highlights carbon-based materials produced from conjugated polymers as a new class of synthetic polymeric precursors through carbonization at high temperatures. Various approaches for preparing aliphatic and aromatic conjugated polymers with controlled morphologies using different polymer-processing techniques are discussed. The solid-state carbonization of highly stretched polyacetylene (PA) films, helical PAs or helical poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)s, and self-assembled poly( meta -phenylene)s was shown to produce anisotropic graphite films, helical graphites, and graphite whiskers, respectively. The conjugated-polymer-derived carbons are expected to find advanced potential applications based on their precursor-dependent morphological functions.