Synthesis and characterization of polypyrole coated latex particles by admicellar polymerization

Abstract

Polypyrrole (PPy) is a good electrically conductive polymer; however, its processibility is poor and its flexibility is limited. To overcome these limitations, admicellar polymerization is used. Admicellar polymerization is a fine-coating technique that leads to the formation of ultra-thin polymer films on charged surfaces by using a surfactant bilayer as a reaction template. In this work, natural rubber acts as the substrate to support a bilayer of SDS. Pyrrole monomers were polymerized by using Fe2(SO4)3. The success of the synthesis was confirmed by FTIR. The TGA curves revealed the shift to higher decomposition temperature of pure PPy, indicating an improvement in the thermal property of the admicelled rubber. The mechanical property of the admicelled rubber was developed as well, to be stiffer than natural rubber. The conductivity of admicelled rubber is about 10-6 S/cm, which is much highher than that of antural rubber by several orders (the conductivity of pure natural rubber is about 10-13 S/cm). Moreover, the addition of salt improved the conductivity due to more adsorption of surfactant and adsolubilization of pyrrole monomer.