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POLYPYRROLE COMPOSITES

GIAN PIERO GARDINI and VlTTORIO BOCCHI

Organic Chemistry Dept., University of Parma, Viale delle Scienze,

43100 Parma (Italy)

After our pioneerlng work in 196611]on conductingpolypyrrole (PP), in

last years this material experienced great interest as a model compound~ due

to its easy preparation by anodlc oxidation and tar better a~r sta~11ity

with respect to polyacetylene and szmtlar polymers.

In an effort to overcome the limitations of known preparation

procedures~ we explored and developed a simple way to obtain highly

conducting ££ Dy intertaclal polymerization ot pyrrole promoted by 1:errlc

salts [2].

-i Conductivlties in the range of 1-50 S x cm were obtained tot

composites between P£ and glass fibers ~ wood ~ paper j

polystyrene-dlvlnylbenzene granules~ plastic or rubber tolls~ and so on.

Careful temperature control and suitable operating conditions allowed the

preparation ot a series ot new mater~als~ which in our opinlon~ deserve

attention and testing for foreseeable or unpredictable applications.

Also, powdered PP could be obtalned by chemical operations~ which

proved to be much simpler than those described in the literature; the PP

powder was usetul for the preparation o1: molded composites.

Lower conducting materials ~IU -3 S x cm -I) were also obtained by

doping indole oligomers.

Preliminary results ot experiments on new practical applications ot

the aforementioned materials will be presented.

REFERENCES

I A. Dall'Olio, S. Dascola, V. Varacca and V. Bocchi, C.R. Acad. Sci.

Ser. C~ 262 (1966) 1617.

2 V. Bocehi and G.P. Gardini, J.C.S. Chem. Com., 1986, in press.