Morphology electropolymerized polythiophenes

Composites of polypyrrole and poly(vinyl chloride) have been prepared by several groups (64-67). Polythiophene-poly(vinyl chloride) composites have also been prepared (68). The electropolymerization of pyrrole on poly(vinyl chloride)-coated electrodes yielded composites with mechanical properties (tensile strength, percent elongation at break, percent elongation at yield) similar to poly(vinyl chloride) (65) but with a conductivity of 5-50 S/cm, which is only slightly inferior to polypyrrole (30-60 S/cm) prepared under similar conditions. In addition, the environmental stability was enhanced. Morphological studies (69) showed that the polypyrrole was not uniformly distributed in the film and had polypyrrole-rich layers next to the electrode. Similarly, poly(vinyl alcohol) (70) poly[(vinylidine chloride)-co-(trifluoroethylene)] (69) and brominated poly(vinyl carbazole) (71) have been used as the matrix polymers. The chemical polymerization of pyrrole in a poly(vinyl alcohol) matrix by ferric chloride and potassium ferricyanide also yielded conducting composites with conductivities of 10 S/cm (72-74). 

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