CONDUCTING COPOLYMERS OF POLYPYRROLE POLYTETRAHYDROFURAN/

Bifunctional living polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) was terminated with pot assium salt of pyrrole to yield polymers with electrochemically active end groups. These polymers were employed in the second stage to obtai n conducting polypyrrole/polytetrahydrofuran block copolymers with sho rt and long polytetrahydrofuran segments by potentiostatic anodic poly merization of pyrrole in different electrolytic media. Syntheses of bl ock copolymers were achieved in media where tetrabutylammonium fluorob orate, sodium perchlorate and sodium p-toluenesulfonate were used as t he supporting electrolytes. Characterizations were based on DSC, TGA, SEM, FTIR and CV analyses. No significant effect of the chain length o f polytetrahydrofuran segments on the properties of the copolymers was observed; however, thermal, electrochemical behaviors, and surface mo rphologies of the films were greatly affected by the supporting electr olytes.