Coatings Based on Conducting Polymers and Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes with Anionic Surfactants Obtained By Electropolymerization

Nanocomposite films based on 3,4 ethylen-dioxythiophene, 2-aminophenol with functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWANTs- polyaminobenzene sulfonic acid - CNT-PABS, SWANTs- with carboxylic acids functionalized - CNT-COOH) and different anionic surfactants as dopants (sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate - AOT, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate - SDBS) were studied. It was fabricated by a simple oxidative electropolimerization method.

All the obtained composites showed improved mechanical integrity, higher electronic and ionic conductivity and exhibited larger electrode specific capacitance than the polymer alone. These nanoporous composite films were grown electrochemically from aqueous solutions such that constituents were deposited simultaneously onto substrate electrode.

The synthetic, morphological and electrical properties of the obtained nanocomposite films were compared. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the composite films consisted of nanoporous networks of SWCNTS (single-walled carbon nanotubes) coated with polymeric film. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) demonstrated that these composite films had similar electrochemical response rates to pure polymeric films but a lower resistance and much improved mechanical integrity. The negatively charged functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTSF) served as anionic dopant during the electropolymerization to synthesize polymer/CNTSF composite films. The electrochemical and physical properties of the resulting composites were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and FT-IR spectroscopy techniques. The specific electrochemical capacitance of the composite films is a significantly greater value than that for pure polymer films prepared similarly. Using these composite films doped with anionic surfactants, the modified electrodes with improved properties were obtained.