Influence of the Polymerization Potential on the Transport Properties of Polypyrrole Films

Polypyrrole films have been prepared by potentiostatic electrochemical polymerization at low temperatures. The cyclic voltammograms and the electronic transport properties of the films are investigated as a function of the polymerization potential. As the potential increases from 520 mV to 1.2 V, the oxidation peak moves to larger voltages, while above 1.2 V, the peak voltage drops again. The film conductivity drops monotonously as the polymerization potential is increased. However, the localization length of the current-carrying states, which characterizes the temperature dependence of the conductivity, correlates with the oxidation peak and shows a minimum for films polymerized at 1.2 V. Furthermore, we show that, with an independent doping step after polymerization, the conductivity of the films can be increased by up to 50%. A maximum conductivity of 1360 S/cm has been observed.