Polymer film, conductivity

Polyanaline, a cyclic voltammogram of its oxidation, 563 Polymer film conducting Doblehofer, 587 Pickup, 549 of electrodes, 382... 

Electrochemically active polymer films -> conducting polymers... 

Electrolytes and solvents. The electropolymerization reaction may be sensitive to the nucleophilic nature of the solvent and electrolyte. For this reason, many of the films are prepared in aprotic solvents, such as acetonitrile, which are poor nucleophiles. Electro-oxidative polymerization in the presence of small anions simultaneously incorporates the anions which render the polymer film conductive. Upon reduction, the anions are released from the film. Cycling the film through oxidation and reduction leads to insertion and release in the respective parts of the cycle. Simultaneous incorporation or removal of the solvent and/or cations may also occur, as shown by measurements on the quartz crystal microbalance [51-52]. Polymerization in the presence of large anions such as poly(vinylsulphonate) and poly(4-styrene sulphonate) (PSS") also incorporates the anion during growth [53-56]. Subsequent cycling, however, does not release the anions which are trapped because of their... 

Polypyrrole (simplistically drawn as formula 5) is probably the simplest of the conducting polymers to be prepared by means of electrochemical polymerization (Figure 11.2). Anodic oxidation of pyrrole gives a bronze to blue black form of polypyrrole which is already doped and intrinsically conductive. A continuous process allows the formation of smooth, insoluble, and intractable polymer films. Conductivity values are quite high for a conducting polymer and in the order of 100 S cm" . 

Polymer film conductivities were measured by complex AC impedance analysis, as described previously for MgCl electrolytes. Among the lead bromide electrolytes, PbBr2.(PEQ) has tne-.highest conductivity between 60 C and 200°C. It is about 10 ohm-cm) at 180°C. The variation of conductivity with temperature cycling reveals complex hystereses that surely are the result of the various dissolution and crystallization processes which occur as the temperature is changed. The lead iodide electrolytes are generally lower in conductivity compared to the bromides. 

Functionalized conducting monomers can be deposited on electrode surfaces aiming for covalent attachment or entrapment of sensor components. Electrically conductive polymers (qv), eg, polypyrrole, polyaniline [25233-30-17, and polythiophene/23 2JJ-J4-j5y, can be formed at the anode by electrochemical polymerization. For integration of bioselective compounds or redox polymers into conductive polymers, functionalization of conductive polymer films, whether before or after polymerization, is essential. In Figure 7, a schematic representation of an amperomethc biosensor where the enzyme is covalendy bound to a functionalized conductive polymer, eg, P-amino (polypyrrole) or poly[A/-(4-aminophenyl)-2,2 -dithienyl]pyrrole, is shown. Entrapment of ferrocene-modified GOD within polypyrrole is shown in Figure 7. 

Fig. 8. Entrapment of mediator-modified enzymes within a conductive polymer film where ( ) represents the mediator ferrocene and (B) the active site...

Electrogenerated conducting polymer films incorporate ions from the electrolyte medium for charge compensation (182). Electrochemical cycling in an electrolyte solution results in sequential doping and undoping of the polymer film. In the case of a -doped polymer, oxidation of the film results in the... 

The changes in the optical absorption spectra of conducting polymers can be monitored using optoelectrochemical techniques. The optical spectmm of a thin polymer film, mounted on a transparent electrode, such as indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass, is recorded. The cell is fitted with a counter and reference electrode so that the potential at the polymer-coated electrode can be controlled electrochemically. The absorption spectmm is recorded as a function of electrode potential, and the evolution of the polymer s band stmcture can be observed as it changes from insulating to conducting (11). 

If a paint film is to prevent this reaction, it must be impervious to electrons, otherwise the cathodic reaction is merely transferred from the surface of the metal to the surface of the film. Organic polymer films do not contain free electrons, except in the special case of pigmentation with metallic pigments consequently it will be assumed that the conductivity of paint films is entirely ionic. In addition, the films must be impervious to either water or oxygen, so that they prevent either from reaching the surface of the metal. 

It is assumed that conduction in polymer films is ionic —it is difficult to see how it could be otherwise — and the factors which break down this resistance, or render it ineffective, will now be considered. 

Poly-1,2-1//-azepines, produced by gas-phase photopolymerization of aryl azides yield, after oxidation, electrically conducting films.103 By photolyzing 4-(pcntyloxy)phenyl azide in the gas phase, a flexible polyazepine is produced which can be deposited directly as a thin polymer film onto a suitable surface. 

This means that we can follow the empirical kinetics of the electropolymerization process, at a constant overpotential (Fig. 6), by tracking the weight of the rinsed and dried polymer film,37 41 as we do in homogeneous polymerization processes of conducting or nonconducting poly-... 

These facts are different demonstrations of the same event degradation reactions occur simultaneously with electropolymerization.49-59 These reactions had also been called overoxidation in the literature. The concept is well established in polymer science and consists of those reactions between the pristine polymer and the ambient that promote a deterioration of the original polymeric properties. The electrochemical consequence of a strong degradation is a passivation of the film through a decrease in the electrical conductivity that allows a lower current flow at the same potential than the pristine and nondegraded polymer film did. Passivation is also a well-established concept in the electrochemistry of oxide films or electropainting. 

Equations (37) and (38), along with Eqs. (29) and (30), define the electrochemical oxidation process of a conducting polymer film controlled by conformational relaxation and diffusion processes in the polymeric structure. It must be remarked that if the initial potential is more anodic than Es, then the term depending on the cathodic overpotential vanishes and the oxidation process becomes only diffusion controlled. So the most usual oxidation processes studied in conducting polymers, which are controlled by diffusion of counter-ions in the polymer, can be considered as a particular case of a more general model of oxidation under conformational relaxation control. The addition of relaxation and diffusion components provides a complete description of the shapes of chronocoulograms and chronoamperograms in any experimental condition ... 

It is now 20 years since the first report on the electrochemistry of an electrode coated with a conducting polymer film.1 The thousands of subsequent papers have revealed a complex mosaic of behaviors arising from the multiple redox potentials and the large changes in conductivity and ion-exchange properties that accompany their electrochemistry. 

The electrochemistry of conducting polymers has been the subject of several reviews2-8 and has been included in articles on chemically modified electrodes.9-14 The primary purpose of this chapter is to review fundamental aspects of the electrochemistry of conducting polymer films. Applications, the diversity of materials available, and synthetic methods are not covered in any detail. No attempt has been made at a comprehensive coverage of the relevant literature and the materials that have been studied. Specific examples have been selected to illustrate general principles, and so it can often be assumed that other materials will behave similarly. 

The electrochemistry of conducting polymer films involves ion expulsion or insertion to maintain electroneutrality. As illustrated in Eqs. (1)... 

Polymerization at constant current is most convenient for controlling the thickness of the deposited film. Charges of ca. 0.3, 0.2, and 0.08 C cm-2 are required to produce 1 fim of polypyrrole,59 poly(3-methylthio-phene)60 (no data are available for polythiophene), and polyaniline 43 respectively. Although these values can reasonably be used to estimate the thicknesses of most electrochemically formed conducting polymer films, it should be noted that they have considerable (ca. 30%) uncertainties. For each polymer, the relationship between charge and film thickness can... 

The reproducibility of the electrodeposition of conducting polymer films has been a very difficult issue. It has long been realized that each laboratory produces a different material and that results from different laboratories are not directly comparable.82 We have experienced reproducibility problems with almost all of the electrochemically polymerized materials used in our work. 

A number of approaches are available to improve the morphology and homogeneity of electrochemically deposited conducting polymer films. Priming of the electrode surface with a monolayer of adsorbed or covalently bonded monomer leads to more compact deposits of polyaniline,87,88 poly thiophene,80 and polypyrrole.89,90 Electrode rotation has been shown to inhibit the deposition of powdery overlayers during poly(3-methylthiophene) deposition.81... 

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