In situ chemical oxidative polymerisation for ordered conducting polythiophene nanostructures in presence of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate

Abstract

Polythiophenes (PTs) have been synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of thiophene in the presence of an anionic surfactant dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) using ferric chloride as an oxidant in chloroform solvent. Different monomer/surfactant ratios have been employed to study the effect of surfactant on synthesis and properties of polythiophenes. The PTs have been characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, wide-angle powder X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis. The properties of PTs prepared using AOT surfactant have been compared with those of PT synthesized without surfactant. Four probe electrical conductivity measurements of the samples reveal that the conductivity is in the range of (7.4–1.0)×10^-3 S cm^-1 for AOT doped polythiophene samples. The band gap of the polymers determined from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy is in the range of 2.25–2.50 eV. Scanning electron microscopic images of the samples exhibited spherical nanoparticle morphology with size in the range of 800 ± 50 nm.