Electrochemical synthesis of polythiophene coatings on zinc and a zinc alloy in organic media

The electropolymerization of thiophene on zinc and a zinc alloy has been achieved in nitrobenzene and dichloromethane in the presence of 0.1 M NBu4PF6 supporting electrolyte and 0.5 M thiophene. The obtained polythiophene coating has been characterized by different microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The micrographs performed by SEM have proved that among the electrochemical techniques the galvanostatic polarization leads to the formation of thick polythiophene films and improves their homogeneity. X-ray pholoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared (IR) and Raman analyses have shown that the obtained coatings have the same elementary composition and structural properties as those electrodeposited on noble electrodes.