Metal–Phenolic Networks as a Universal Aqueous Dispersing and Immobilizing Agent for Nanocarbon Materials: A Facile Strategy for Synthesis of Electronic and Energy Materials in the Aqueous Phase

Nanocarbon materials (NCM) have been widely applied in electronic and energy industries. With the rise of environmental concerns, nanocarbon material-based electronic and energy devices were prone to be fabricated by the aqueous process. Unfortunately, the low dispersibility of carbon nanomaterials in water and the strong π–π interaction between the carbon nanomaterials limited these processes. This research introduced a kind of metal–phenolic network, tannic acid–Fe3+ (TA-FeIII), as a universal aqueous dispersing and immobilizing agent for nanocarbon materials. The nanocarbon material-based electronic and energy materials were synthesized in the aqueous phase. Meanwhile, the TA-FeIII exhibits better-dispersing properties than TA because of its larger contact area with nanocarbon materials. The steered molecular dynamics simulation results also supported this point. They revealed that some arms of TA-FeIII could tightly attach to the surface of the NCM by π–π stacking interaction. To explore the potential application of NCM/TA-FeIII dispersion, we tried to synthesis of electronic and energy materials in the aqueous phase. The reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/TA-FeIII dispersion was used to fabricate anode materials of lithium batteries, which exhibit higher specific capacity than the cells that employed RGO or RGO/TA as anode materials. Moreover, the multiwalled carbon nanotube/TA-FeIII dispersion could self-assemble into a coating on chitosan hydrogel to improve its conductivity. The coated chitosan hydrogel exhibited sensitive electromechanical performance under cyclic compression–release. Hence, the metal–phenolic network/NCM dispersion can be used to fabricate wearable electronics and power storage devices in the aqueous phase.