Properties of nanometric and submicrometric multilayered films of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and poly(N-methylpyrrole)

Multilayered films formed by 3, 5 and 7 alternated layers of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and poly(N-methylpyrrole) have been prepared by chronoamperometry under a constant potential of 1.4 V using a layer-by-layer electrodeposition technique. In order to examine influence of the interface:bulk dimensional ratio, the thickness of the yielded films was reduced from the submicrometric to the nanometric scale by decreasing the polymerization time of each layer from 100 s to 10 s. The electroactivity, electrochemical characteristics and morphologies of the resulting multilayered films have been compared with those obtained for both single-component poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) films prepared using identical experimental conditions and previously reported multilayered films with thickness within the micrometric scale [Estrany F, Aradilla D, Oliver R, Alemán C. Eur Polym J 2007;43:1876].