Optical and Electrical Properties of Thin Films of Polyaniline and Polypyrrole

Abstract

We prepared conducting thin films of polypyrrole and polyaniline doped with (BF4)-1 and studied some important electrical, optical and structural properties of them. Polypyrrole and Polyaniline thin films were prepared by electrochemical oxidation polymerization of pyrrole and aniline. The variation of electrical conductivity with temperature was investigated and indicated the semiconducting nature of these films with two activation energies in the experimental temperature range. The Density Functional Theory (DFT) based on Becke-3-Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) level with 6-31+G* basis was used to compute the electronic spectrum frequencies for monomers and dimers of aniline and pyrrole and compared satisfactorily with our experimental results for optical absorption, especially in the case of polyaniline. The morphologies of polypyrrole and polyaniline were studied and showed that they comparable to those mentioned in literature.