Abstract:

The straight and orderly microrods of polypyrrole(Ppy) were synthesized in a microemulsion system that  consisted of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), n-pentanol, water and pyrrole by chemical oxidative polymerization, in which CTAB was used as soft templates and ammonium persulfate (APS) were  used as the oxidant. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize the structure of the Ppy microrods. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM) was used to characterize the morphology of the samples. The effects of temperature, the addition method   of the oxidant, and the amount of cosurfactant n-pentanol to the morphology of Ppy microrods were discussed. The results showed that when the temperature was kept at room temperature (25℃), the droping time of APS was about 1.5h, the ratio of CTAB to n-pentanol was 0.6∶1.0, and the polymerization time was 24h, the straight and orderly polypyrrole microrods with a diameter about 300nm and a length up to 20μm were synthesized.

Key words: soft template methods, microemulsion, chemical oxidative polymerization, Ppy microrods