Stability study of conducting polypyrrole films and polyvinylchloride-polypyrrole composites doped with different counterions

Abstract Electrically conducting poiypyrrole and poiyvinylchloride-polypyrrole (PVC-PPY) composite films doped with different counterions were aged in ambient air at room temperature. Polypyrrole and PVC-PPY composite films doped with the organic counterion TsO − (paratoluenesulfonate) show better stability than those doped with inorganic counterions as ClO 4 − , BF 4 − , NO 3 − . We found that the normalized conductivity for air ageing at room temperature for 110 days is between 25 and 30% initial conductivity for pure polypyrrole films doped with C1O 4 − and 10% for BF 4 − -doped polypyrrole. For PVC-PPY composites doped with ClO 4 − the normalized conductivity for air ageing at room temperature is between 15 and 35% initial conductivity. For pure polypyrrole and PVC-PPY composites films doped with TsO − , the normalized conductivity for air ageing for 55 days is between 97 and 128% initial conductivity. It was observed that the conductivity of pure polypyrrole and PVC-PPY composite films doped with inorganic ions decreased drastically in the first days, while that of the films doped with organic ion (TsO − ) increased. This different behaviour is attributed to the nature of the doping ions.