• Zagórska, Małgorzata
• Audebert, Pierre
• Łapkowski, Mieczysław

Abstract

We are very pleased to introduce this special issue. At first sight it would seem that conducting polymers and carbon based materials, became a mature field a long time ago! The same could also be said of electrochemistry, though it is slowly shifting from the field of fundamental science to being a widespread technique for materials and device investigations. So why did we want to make a special issue on the electrochemistry of conducting polymers (CPs) and carbonaceous materials now? Well, the introductory statements were in fact just to provoke a little bit, and we hope that no one ever thought that mature was synonymous with finished. In addition, science, measurement techniques and technology are not opposed to one another, but instead are complementary and intertwined branches of the same reality.This is why electrochemistry on conducting polymers and related materials is still, not only an active field, but one with many new concepts and applications emerging. A few topics within this field seem to us to be of particular interest. Recently there was a considerable renewal in the electrochemistry of nanoporous carbons, since the discovery that nanopores could be used for electrochemical charge storage. Similarly, nanostructuring of CPs can lead to the appearance of completely original electrochemical properties, and a couple of articles in this issue focus on that point. Combining nanoporous carbons and conducting polymers, some researchers show the high performance of nanocomposites for catalytic applications, and of course for supercapacitors!There has been sustained interest in modified electrodes for many years, and several articles can be found in this issue, including electrochemical actuators which are still progressing at a fast pace. Another feature of interest among electroswitchable materials is electrochromism, and electrofluorochromism, and some articles in our issue explore this quite interesting phenomenon. Finally, some general interest, and fundamental works also are represented in our special issue, including the important topic for organic electronics of how to determine energy levels of organic semiconductors.All these topics are convincingly of up-to-date and renewed interest, and we are proud to offer you a great and exciting special issue on this rich and varied subject!

Topics

• nanocomposite
• impedance spectroscopy
• polymer
• Carbon
• semiconductor