Water-dispersed polypyrrole nanospheres via chemical oxidative polymerization in the presence of castor oil sulfate

The castor oil sulfate (COS), produced by the sulfonation of the castor oil (one of the most promising renewable sources), was used as both the surfactant and the dopant in the chemical oxidative polymerization of pyrrole. The resulting castor oil sulfate doped polypyrrole nanospheres (PPy/COS) were characterized with FTIR, UV–vis, TGA, zeta potentials and TEM techniques. It was found that their diameter decreased and their dispersing stabilities in water increased with the increasing of feeding ratio of COS. The PPy/COS nanospheres possess high electrical conductivity at room temperature and the weak temperature dependence of the conductivity.