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a) b - École Polytechnique de Montréal

a) b - École Polytechnique de Montréal

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Since the ultra-low surface area values are beyond the range of the BET equipment, the surface<br />

area of sample A (morphology shown in Figure 5-5e) was estimated arithmetically. A porous<br />

disc-shape sample with a diameter of 2.5-cm and a length of 1-mm is assumed to be comprised<br />

of numerous parallel cylin<strong>de</strong>rs from top to bottom with a diameter of 175-µm and a length of 1mm.<br />

The diameter of cylin<strong>de</strong>rs is obtained from average diameter of HDPE cylindrical rods<br />

exhibited in Figure 5-5e. Estimating the number of cylin<strong>de</strong>rs and the surface area per cylin<strong>de</strong>r as<br />

6818 and 0.00375m 2 /g, respectively, corresponds to a surface area of the porous <strong>de</strong>vice of<br />

approximately 0.01 m 2 /g.<br />

Hence, the work to this point has achieved fully interconnected porous substrates (samples A, B,<br />

C, and D) of ultra-low surface area (large pores) and a highly uniform pore size. All these<br />

samples will be used as substrates for the layer-by-layer <strong>de</strong>position of polyaniline in the<br />

subsequent parts of this work. Table 5-5 compares the surface area of porous sample A to the<br />

surface area of other co-continuous systems and <strong>de</strong>monstrates that, to our knowledge, this is the<br />

lowest surface area, fully interconnected porous polymer material ever presented in the literature.<br />

Table 5 also <strong>de</strong>monstrates the potential of preparing conductive <strong>de</strong>vices from higher surface area<br />

co-continuous systems and un<strong>de</strong>rlines the versatility of the approach.<br />

155

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