Conductive polymer-metal composites: Preparation methods on bulk and nano scales

Abstract

Chemically synthesized polyaniline readily reduces the metal ions in gold and palladium salt solutions, and polyaniline-metal composites containing metal nanoparticles were successfully prepared. The polyaniline-metal composites can be coated on conventional polymer substrates, and through surface functionalization of the substrate, good adhesion can be achieved. Metallization of thin films of plasma polymerized aniline was also successfully carried out even though its structure is rather different from that of polyaniline synthesized by the conventional chemical method. Plasma polymerization was also utilized to prepare thin films of pyrrole and thiophene polymers and detailed investigations on their structure, morphology and stability were carried out. The plasma polymerization technique combined with the use of a mask facilitates the formation of nanoclusters of polymer and metal.