Conducting composite film based on polypyrrole and crosslinked cellulose

Abstract Polypyrrole/crosslinked cellulose conductive composite films were prepared by vapor‐phase polymerization of pyrrole on the silicon crosslinked cellulose network using anhydrous ferric chloride as oxidant. The properties of the composite film depend on their synthetic conditions such as the amount of ferric chloride and tetraethyl orthosilicate crosslinker, the reaction time, the solvent, etc. Interestingly, it was found that the conductivity was strongly affected by the nature of the solvents and their amount in pyrrole solution. When the weight ratio of methanol/pyrrole is 1 : 1, the conductivity was as high as 1.1 S/cm, increased by two orders of magnitude compared to that without solvent, and the mechanical properties was good. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 1368–1373, 2001