Conductivity and Thermal-Stability of 5-Sulfosalicylic Acid Sodium Doped Polypyrrole

By varying the dopant-to-pyrrole ratio in a wide range from 0 to 60% a series of 5-sulfosalicylic acid sodium doped polypyrrole was synthesized in situ in aqueous solution with ferric chloride as the oxidant. The resulting polypyrroles were characterized with the four-probe, laser light scattering and thermo-gravimetry analysis, differential thermal analysis, respectively. Our results indicate that the particle size plays a determinative role to tune the conductivity in the studied range of dopant concentration; and this series of polypyrrole with size-tuned-conductivity exhibits little less thermal-stability although its size and conductivity changes simultaneously and acutely with the dopant concentration. The association of the conductivity with particle size was interpreted in terms of a theoretical model proposed by Baughman and Shacklelette.