Highly conductive polypyrrole films on non-conductive substrates

We report on a method to deposit thin films of conductive polypyrrole powder on non-conductive substrates. This is a new method in contrast to the usual way of preparing polypyrrole films by anodic deposition on metal substrates. Polypyrrole tosylate is synthesized by chemical oxidation of pyrrole with ammoniumpersulfate in aqueous solution. We optimized the conductivity by variation of the reaction conditions. Then we produced smooth films of polypyrrole by testing several methods of film deposition. All of these samples were characterized by conductivity and by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements, and compared to electrochemically produced polypyrrole films.