Synhesis and caracterization of conducting polymers hydro-sponges

The present work is focused on the study of the synthesis and characterization of conducting polymeric hydro-sponges structured by using methyl orange template. The syntheses of the hydro-sponges were performed by both chemical and electrochemical methods. Electro-swelling studies performed were with Polypyrrole hydro-sponges chemically synthezised, at macroscopic level (by volume change) and molecular level (by FTIR-ATR analysis) showing that the material behaves as a hydrogel presenting high ability to undergo large volume changes (until 40%) and to absorb high amounts of water. Regarding the electrochemical synthesis, the hydro-sponges thin films of polypyrrole and polyaniline of nanotubular shape were prepared. Morphological differences were analyzed according to the change in the synthesis parameters. For the polypyrrole films, a study of the growth of the three-dimensional structure was performed by using AFM analysis. A significant increase in the electrochemical properties with the increase of the spongy structure of polypyrrole was observed, leading to high electroactivity opening the possibility to be applied in supercapacitors (1220 F g-1). For the polyaniline films, a morphological, electrochemical and spectroscopic study was performed identifying the change of properties caused by the nanostructuring of the material. It was noted that the tubular shape of the polyaniline causes a conformational change in the polymer chain which reflects in the electrochemical properties, mainly due to the increase in the population of the charge carriers. (AU)