A study on polypyrrole-coated polystyrene sulfonic acid microspheres – a proton electrolyte

A polypyrrole (PPy) layer is deposited on the surface of microspheres (d=0.5 μm) of polystyrene sulfonic acid resin. Both DC and AC measurements were employed to assess the electrical property of the resulting powder consisting of PPy-coated microspheres. The PPy coating has been observed to play a role in enhancing the proton conductivity and in reducing the capacitative reactance when its content is below 2 wt.%. The magnitude of the enhancing effect depends on the way by which the PPy is introduced as well as the doped state of the PPy.