Preparation and characterization of conductive paper via in-situ polymerization of pyrrole

Electrically conductive paper was prepared via in-situ chemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole by using ferric chloride as an oxidant and p-toluenesulfonic acid (PTSA) as a dopant. The deposition of polypyrrole (PPy) on the fiber surface was verified by ATR-FTIR and SEM analyses. Pyrrole concentration had a significant effect on the surface resistivity of conductive paper, especially when the pyrrole concentration was less than 1.8 g·L-1. The conductivity of the PPy-coated paper could be controlled by adjusting pyrrole concentration. The threshold concen-tration of pyrrole was 1.2 g·L-1 when the molar ratio of dopant to pyrrole was 2:1. Very little polymerization reaction in solution occurred when pyrrole concentration was less than 2.5 g·L-1. The pyrrole concentration should reach a higher value to prepare a relatively stable conductive paper with lower resistivity. The XPS results showed that the amount of the PPy coating increased, while the doping level first decreased then increased with the increase of pyrrole concentration. The SEM-EDXA results showed that there was no difference in the amount of PPy coated between the outer surface and the internal wall, but the doping level of the outer surface was higher than that of the internal wall.