Conducting copolymers of polypyrrole/polytetrahydrofuran

Bifunctional living polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) was terminated with potassium salt of pyrrole to yield polymers with electrochemically active end groups. These polymers were employed in the second stage to obtain conducting polypyrrole/polytetrahydrofuran block copolymers with short and long polytetrahydrofuran segments by potentiostatic anodic polymerization of pyrrole in different electrolytic media. Syntheses of block copolymers were achieved in media where tetrabutylammonium fluoroborate, sodium perchlorate and sodium p-toluenesulfonate were used as the supporting electrolytes. Characterizations were based on DSC, TGA, SEM, FTIR and CV analyses. No significant effect of the chain length of polytetrahydrofuran segments on the properties of the copolymers was observed; however, thermal, electrochemical behaviors, and surface morphologies of the films were greatly affected by the supporting electrolytes.