Chemical Synthesis.pdfVIP

262 Chem. Mater. 1999, 11, 262268 Chemical Synthesis, Characterization, and Electrochemical Studies of Poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene / Poly styrene-4-sulfonate Composites Mark Lefebvre, Zhigang Qi,? Danesh Rana, and Peter G. Pickup* Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 3X7 Received June 29, 1998. Revised Manuscript Received October 28, 1998 Poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene /poly styrene-4-sulfonate PEDOT/PSS composites have been prepared from aqueous and aqueous acetonitrile solutions of EDOT and NaPSS by oxidation using Fe III salts. Powders with PEDOT to PSS ratios ranging from 0.3 to 4.2 and electronic conductivities as high as 10 S cm 1 have been obtained in good yields. The PEDOT/PSS blends are cation exchangers and exhibit facile eletrochemistry in both aqueous and acetonitrile media. Impedance measurements have shown that 30 m thick PEDOT/ 1 PSS layers have proton conductivities as high as 0.03 S cm . Introduction therefore used it to replace polypyrrole in our catalyst support.14,15 PEDOT has been attracting growing inter- In recent years there has been increasing interest in est since it was first reported in 199211 and is currently the synthesis of conducting polymer particles by chemi- being marketed by Bayer. In most cases, electrochemi- cal oxidation.15 This method is more suitable for mass cally prepared films have been used, although there are production than the more commonly used electrochemi- a number of reports of the oxidative chemical polymer- cal methods.6 ization of EDOT.2,11,16 Our interest in chemically prepared conducting poly- Our interest in using PEDOT as a catalyst support mer particles stems from their potential as catalyst in PEM fuel cells requires that they have good cation support materials for proton exchange membrane PEM proton conductivity. To achieve this, a polyanion, PSS, fuel cells. By polymerizing pyrrole in the presence of a is used as