KINETICS OF DEGRADATION OF THE ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF POLYPYRROLEUNDER THERMAL AGING

Aging experiments, with in-situ conductivity measurements, were perfor med on various polypyrrole films deposited on fabrics. The samples wer e synthesized by chemical polymerization. The kinetics of aging of the se materials was established, and lead us to suggest that over the tem perature range 60-140-degrees-C they are determined by a unique diffus ion mechanism. These results are compared with literature data concern ing electrochemically synthesized films. A degradation mechanism for t hese materials is proposed. Special attention is paid to the doping sp ecies in relation to the stability of the resulting polymer.