Investigation of characteristics of PEDOT obtained under controlled polymerization conditions

An organic chemical accelerant was added into the mixed solution during the in situ polymerization process of conductive polymer 3,4-polyethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT). The conductivity change of PEDOT films was measured by four-probe technique. Morphology images of films were observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The experimental results showed that higher conductivity PEDOT films (about 120S/cm) was obtained after molar ratio of 0.05-0.15% accelerant was added into solution and high quality PEDOT films was obtained. We suggested that the accelerant changed polymerization speed of PEDOT and longer conjugated chain was formed and PEDOT films had better orientation. Furthermore, the decomposition temperature of PEDOT was influenced by accelerant. About 40 °C change of decomposition temperature was observed by thermogravimetry (TG). The explanation of advantage of lower decomposition temperature of PEDOT was also included in this paper.