MANIPULATION OF MULTICOMPONENT LANGMUIR-BLODGETT-FILMS OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS - POLYPYRROLE AND POLY(3-HEXYLTHIOPHENE)

Multicomponent Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films containing polypyrrole, 3-octadecanoyl pyrrole, and poly(3-hexylthiophene) were fabricated via a novel in-situ polymerization process. In this process, pyrrole monomer is polymerized at the air-subphase interface in the presence of poly(3-hexylthiophene) by using a subphase containing 1 wt% FeCl3. The resultant electrically conductive films could be readily deposited onto solid substrates as Z-type films by the vertical lifting method. By using visible absorption, x-ray diffraction, and FTIR measurements, it was found that all three components were present within the transferred films, with the polypyrrole chains assuming a preferential orientation parallel to the film surface. The conductivities of the mixed LB films were as high as 1.0 S/cm, and the stability of the conductivity was very good. Chemical doping of poly(3-hexylthiophene) within the film with strong oxidizing agents such as I2 further enhanced the conductivity of the film.