Conducting poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene)/polypyrrole PolyHIPE composite foam prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization

Conducting poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene)/polypyrrole (PPy) polyHIPE (polymerized high internal phase emulsion) composite foams were synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization method. The effect of solvent and dopant type on the surface morphology and electrical conductivity of composite foams has been investigated. SEM micrographs showed that the morphology of PPy thin film on the internal surface of poly(styrene/divinylbenzene) (poly(St-co-DVB) polyHIPE support foam strongly depends on the solvent and dopant type used. Incorporation of dodecylbenzene solfunic acid-sodium salt (DBSNa) as a dopant in chloroform solvent resulted in formation of a PPy thin film with higher molecular compact structure and electrical conductivity on the support foam as compared to other solvents and another dopant used. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy was used to correlate the electrical conductivity of composite foams to their PPy structural parameters. As expected, the extended conjugation length of PPy in the presence of DBSNa dopant is the main reason for higher electrical conductivity of resultant composite foam. Electrical conductivity measurements revealed that the chemical aging of various conducting foams follows the first-order kinetic model, which is a representative of a reaction-controlled aging mechanism. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2012