Increased Electrical Conductivity of Polypyrrole Through Emulsion Polymerization Assisted Emulsifier Synthesis

A conductive Polypyrrole (PPy) has been successfully synthesized and characterized. The PPy was prepared through oxidative chemical polymerization using ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) as an oxidizing agent in aqueous media. The reaction is prepared without heating. Anionic and non-ionic emulsifiers, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), nonylphenol (NP) ethoxylate (EO) with 10 mole EO were respectively used during polymerization to increase the electrical conductivity. The FTIR spectrum of PPy indicates a change in the absorbance peaks of pyrrole monomer at 1530 cm^-1 and those in the range region of 1100-1000 cm^-1. With the SDS addition, the temperature of solution increased with reaction time reached the highest 35 °C within 2 minutes reaction. The pH value of an SDS added solution was 3.3 higher than that of SDS free solution (1.8). The addition of SDS was also to change the color changing during the polymerization reaction. The final characteristic of PPy by measuring the electrical conductivity (σ) value concluded that the presence of emulsifier anionic in a polymerization reaction increased the electrical conductivity of PPy 150 times higher compared with that obtained of emulsifier free solution.