Morphology control of conducting polypyrrole nanostructures via operational conditions in the emulsion polymerization

Polypyrrole (PPy) nanostructures with diameter smaller than 100 nm were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of cetyl trimethylammonium bromide and sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactants. Hydrochloric acid was used as dopant, and a solution of potassium peroxydisulfate was used as initiator. The influence of polymerization temperature, feeding strategy, and the type of surfactant on the morphology and conductivity of PPy nanostructures were investigated and well-described. A simple route just via controlling the operational conditions in the emulsion polymerization is reported to obtain nanostructured PPy with desirable morphology and relatively good conductivity. The analysis results demonstrated that the conductivity of samples is highly affected by their morphology whereas PPy nanofibers exhibited higher conductivity respecting the other morphologies (0.66 S/cm). (C) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.