A relaxation model for the electrochemical doping of polypyrrole

Summary form only given. The electrochemical oxidation of conducting polymers such as polypyrrole or polythiophene, requires the simultaneous incorporation of counterions into the polymer structure to compensate positive charges. The process is accompanied by a molecular movement in the polymer, promoting the opening of chanels across the polymeric entanglement. When the polymer is reduced those processes are reversed and the molecular structure experiments a compactation process. The influence of the molecular entanglement opening and closing during oxidation or reduction is shown as a maximum in the chronoamperometric responses, or as an induction time in the charge time or current-voltage evolutions. In this work the chronoamperometric curves corresponding to the doping processes of polypyrrole films, have been simulated from theoretical models of relaxation processes in non crystalline polymers. A good correlation between experimental and theoretical results was obtained.