Electrosynthesis and characterisation of nanostructured palladium-polypyrrole composites

Palladium-polypyrrole composite thin films have been synthesised using three different bottom-up procedures all comprising the electrochemical synthesis of palladium nanoparticles that are subsequently potentiostatically deposited or embedded into an electrochemically produced polypyrrole thin film. Transmission electron micrographs of the resulting composites show that the metallic inclusions have a mean diameter of about 5 nm with a homogeneous size distribution. Experimental evidence is also provided that both the nanoparticles and the composite thin films are electroactive. Preliminary results on the extendibility of this approach to the electrosynthesis of other metal-polypyrrole materials (namely Ag-PPy composites) are also presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.