Reversible and efficient photocurrent switching of ultra-long polypyrrole nanowires

Ultra-long polypyrrole nanowires with an average diameter of 60 nm and length up to tens of micrometers were successfully synthesized via chemical oxidation polymerization in an aqueous solution. Cyclic voltammetry curves showed that the conductive polymer nanowires were reversible in electrochemical behavior. And the excellent photosensitivity and photoresponse of polypyrrole nanowires were also investigated, which showed that the photocurrent enhanced by ca. 6 times under irradiation of an incandescence lamp with power density of 2.5 mW/cm2. This work might be useful in the fabrication of photosensor and photoswitch microdevices or nanodevices in the future.