Conducting organic polymers with electroactive dopants. Synthesis and electrochemical properties of hexacyanoferrate-doped polypyrrole

A systematic study of the synthesis of heacyanoferrate-doped polypyrrole (PPy/HCF) is reported. In addition to the electrochemical growth of films, we report three different modifications of a novel chemical synthesis for the preparation of bulk powdered materials by oxidative polymerization of pyrrole by the acid derivative of HCF. The effect of temperature and duration of the reaction, doping level and aging of the materials obtained on their conductivity has been systematically studied. Higher conductivities are obtained for materials prepared at lower temperatures (0°C). This is associated to a higher content of the doping HCF anion for these lower temperature materials. With time the conductivity of all samples decreases proportionally to the corresponding initial values. Finally, we report the electrochemical properties of these hybrid materials, the cyclic voltammograms of chemical and electrochemical derivatives and their intercalation behavior, which shows a deintercalation of the electroactive HCF anion in aqueous electrolytes but not in organic (propylene carbonate, dimethoxyethane) media.